1972, while in the interval he served twice as Secretary-General (or permanent under-secretary) of the Foreign Ministry in Ankara. During the latter stage of his diplomatic life in London, Kuneralp began have progressive multiple sclerosis, which left him unable to walk without support. In 1978, while Kuneralp was serving as ambassador in Madrid, three gunmen opened fire on his car one morning outside his home. The ambassador's wife, Necla Kuneralp, and her brother-in-law, retired Ambassador Beşir Balcıoğlu, were killed in the attack. Responsibility was claimed by a militant Armenian group, variously named as ASALA (Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia) or the Justice Commandos Against Armenian Genocide. The attackers opened fire on Balcioglu, who was using crutches, perhaps supposing him to be Kuneralp. The attack was one of a series of assassinations of Turkish diplomats and officials during the 1970s and 1980s, and the first in which a non-Turk (Kuneralp's Spanish driver, Antonio Torres) was fatally injured. Despite this tragedy, Kuneralp's intellectual distinction and energy remained as strong as ever. During his retirement he wrote several books, including an edited version of his father's autobiography and an autobiography of his own, as well as works on recent aspects of Turkish diplomatic history. His autobiography, Sadece Diplomat, was translated into English and appeared under the title "Just a Diplomat". He died in Istanbul of progressive multiple sclerosis. An article, "Ambassador Extraordinary", describing his life and personality, was published after his death in Number 16 of the magazine Cornucopia, 1998, as well as a short volume of memoirs by his British and Turkish friends giving details of his career. This was published in 1998 by the Isis Press in Istanbul as Zeki Kuneralp 1914–1998: A Tribute by Friends and Family. One of his British friends, Sir Bernard Burrows, a former ambassador to Ankara, said that Kuneralp could best be described as a saint, adding that this was an unusual quality in a diplomat. Kuneralp always retained his affection for Switzerland, the country of his upbringing, and spoke the Swiss dialect of German fluently, sometimes startling groups of Swiss visitors. Kuneralp had two sons who both survive him, Sinan, a leading Istanbul publisher, and Selim, who went into the diplomatic service and has been Turkey's ambassador to Sweden and South Korea. He is also among founders of a Francophone High School in Ankara called "Lycée Tevfik Fikret" Boris Johnson, Prime Minister