[1] Öymen graduated from Galatasaray High School and received a degree from the Faculty of Political Sciences at Ankara University in 1963.

[1][2] One of the significant events occurred during this period was the murder of five Turkish people in an arson attack by the neo-Nazis in Solingen, Germany, on 28–29 May 1993.

[3] Following the incident Öymen and the German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel participated in a televised meeting asking Turks living in the country not to overreact, but to use democratic ways to express their anger to avoid violent demonstrations.

[4] He and the deputy chief of staff Çevik Bir were instrumental in improving the relations with Israel in 1996.

[5] Öymen was appointed permanent representative of Turkey to NATO in 1997 and remained in office until his retirement in 2002.

[1] Burak Öymen, his son, is a businessman and married Czech model Tereza Maxová in Didim in October 2016.