Türk, Danilo

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Danilo Türk, 1952–, Slovenian lawyer and diplomat, president of Slovenia (2007–12), b. Maribor. A lawyer who graduated from the Univ. of Ljubljana (LL.D., 1982), he is a tenured professor of international law there. Türk was Slovenia's ambassador to the United Nations (1992–2000) and then served as assistant secretary-general for political affairs (2000–2005) at the United Nations. A center-left candidate for the largely ceremonial role of president, he handily defeated the center-right candidate, former prime minister Lojze Peterie, in 2007. He lost his 2012 bid for a second term to former prime minister Borut Pahor.