First Turkish Secretary General at the OSCE: Feridun Sinirlioğlu

Turkey's candidate, retired Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu, has been elected as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

HE MADE HISTORY AS A TURK

Sinirlioğlu became the first Turkish citizen to assume the role of OSCE Secretary General.

APPROVED BY 57 MEMBERS

The 31st Ministerial Council Meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), attended by Minister of Foreign Affairs Hakan Fidan, was held in Malta. At the meeting, it was decided to elect Turkey's candidate, retired Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu, to the position of OSCE Secretary General, which had been vacant since last September.

Ambassador Sinirlioğlu became the first Turkish citizen to hold the position of OSCE Secretary General in the 50-year history of the 1975 Helsinki Final Act, which forms the foundation of the organization. The decision was taken with the approval of 57 participating members from North America, Europe, and Asia.

HE WILL SERVE FOR 3 YEARS

The Secretary General is elected by OSCE members for a 3-year term.

THE FACT THAT ALL MEMBERS AGREED ON TURKEY'S CANDIDATE ALSO REFLECTS THE TRUST IN TURKEY

Intensive and meticulous diplomatic efforts were carried out by Turkey in the process leading to the appointment of Ambassador Sinirlioğlu as OSCE Secretary General. Following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, decision-making processes at the OSCE have become completely deadlocked, and no consensus can be reached on fundamental issues between Western and Eastern countries.

Although the previous Secretary General's term expired in 2023, a new Secretary General could not be appointed because countries could not agree on a name, and the term was extended for another 9 months. For this reason, the fact that all members agreed on Turkey's candidate also reflects the trust in Turkey.

With this appointment, the international community has also acknowledged the importance of the active and constructive diplomatic efforts Turkey has demonstrated toward resolving crises in the OSCE geography, where hot conflicts and protracted disputes exist. During Ambassador Sinirlioğlu's tenure as Secretary General, many critical issues concerning global peace and stability, primarily the protection of the foundations of the security architecture in Europe, will be on the agenda.

In the coming period, if peace talks begin between Russia and Ukraine, it is likely that the OSCE will play an important role. Ambassador Sinirlioğlu is also expected to make efforts to strengthen the effectiveness of the OSCE.

WHAT IS THE OSCE?

The OSCE emerged during the Cold War as a negotiation forum and a form of conference diplomacy aimed at reducing tension and points of disagreement by establishing regular dialogue between the Eastern and Western blocs.

In the 1970s, upon the acceptance by the Eastern Bloc of the West's proposal to begin negotiations on "mutual and balanced force reductions," the Helsinki Final Act was signed in 1975 by 33 European countries, as well as the USA and Canada, as a result of the Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) process that began in Helsinki in 1973. With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of ideological polarization in the early 1990s, the CSCE, whose founding purpose had to some extent disappeared, entered a process of adaptation to the risks and threats of the new era. In this process, in addition to its functions such as monitoring democratization and human rights, the CSCE stood out compared to other international and regional organizations in the fields of early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management, and post-conflict rehabilitation.

With the 1990 Charter of Paris, which marked the political beginning of the post-Cold War era, it was decided to institutionalize the CSCE through political consultation mechanisms and a series of permanent bodies, and the foundations of the organization's current structure were laid at the 1992 Helsinki Summit. The CSCE transformed into an international organization at the 1994 Budapest Summit and took the name Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Today, the organization is the largest regional security forum, encompassing countries in North America, Europe, the Balkans, the Caucasus, and Central Asia.

WHO IS FERİDUN SİNİRLİOĞLU?

Having over 40 years of experience in the field of international relations and diplomacy, Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu completed his undergraduate studies at the Ankara University Faculty of Political Sciences and his master's and doctorate degrees at the Boğaziçi University Department of Political Science and International Relations. Sinirlioğlu served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the interim government established in 2015, and as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2015-2016 and 2009-2015. Serving as Turkey's Permanent Representative to the United Nations between 2016-2023, Ambassador Sinirlioğlu was appointed as the UN Special Coordinator for the Independent Assessment on Afghanistan by the UN Secretary-General in 2023.