Nury A. Turkel is an international compliance attorney, business executive, thought leader, and award-winning author, widely recognized as a leading expert on U.S.-China relations. He serves as Chief Counsel for Legal & Governmental Affairs at AGMS, providing senior management with strategic legal guidance on multi-million-dollar international projects. Previously, he was Compliance Counsel at a multinational company, developing global anti-bribery and anti-corruption programs. His legal expertise spans anti-corruption laws, economic sanctions, export controls, global supply chain risks, corporate governance, international project finance, business and human rights, emerging technologies, crisis management, government relations, and legislative advocacy. A lifelong human rights advocate, Turkel is deeply committed to global justice enforcement and the prevention of mass atrocities.
Turkel’s distinguished career includes his role as a Senior Fellow at the Hudson Institute, where he focuses on national security, foreign policy, digital authoritarianism, and the impact of technologies like artificial intelligence on human rights. He is a life member of the Council on Foreign Relations, an Advisory Council Member at the Krach Institute for Tech Diplomacy, and serves on the Advisory Board of Notre Dame Law School’s Religious Liberty Clinic. Known for his incisive policy analysis, Turkel’s essays have been published in leading outlets, including Foreign Affairs, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and TIME. He is also a sought-after commentator on foreign policy, national security, and human rights, frequently appearing on major media outlets like CNN, BBC, and NPR.
From 2020 to 2024, Turkel served as a Commissioner on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), appointed by then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He held leadership roles as Chair (2022-2023) and Vice Chair (2021-2022), where he engaged with senior U.S. officials, diplomats, foreign governments, and civil society on issues affecting religious minorities. Turkel played a pivotal role in the passage of key legislation, including the Uyghur Human Rights Policy Act of 2020 and the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act of 2021. He regularly briefs Congress and international policymakers on forced labor and the misuse of emerging technologies in human rights abuses. He has provided expert testimony and policy advice to parliaments in the EU, UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, and beyond, advocating alignment with U.S. national security and foreign policy objectives regarding China.
An accomplished author, Turkel’s memoir, No Escape: The True Story of China’s Genocide of the Uyghurs, won the 2023 Moore Prize for Human Rights Writing. The book has brought global attention to the plight of the Uyghur people and exposed China’s extensive system of detention and enforced disappearance. In recognition of his dedication to human rights, Turkel has been named one of TIME magazine’s “100 Most Influential People in the World” in 2020 and one of Fortune magazine’s “50 Greatest Leaders” in 2021. He was also honored with the inaugural Notre Dame Prize for Religious Liberty in June 2021 and the Global Soul Award by Jewish World Watch in September 2022.
Turkel holds a J.D. from the American University Washington College of Law and an M.A. from the American University School of International Service. He lives with his wife and their children in the Washington, D.C., area.
