The Senior Deputy High Representative, Matthias Sonn, joined the OHR in October 2000. A German diplomat, his most recent posting was as Head of Section at the German Foreign Office's Political Department in Berlin, covering Turkey, Cyprus, Malta, Switzerland and Liechtenstein. He was previously Counselor for Political Affairs and Head of the Press Department at the German Embassy in Ankara. His other missions included postings in Ghana, the United States, Trinidad and Tobago. He studied law and theology at the Universities of Geneva, Tubingen, Munich and Hamburg. He was a research assistant at the Max-Planck-Institute in Hamburg for Foreign and International Private Law.