One of the most memorable developments in our foreign policy this year is the nomination of Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who has held some of Türkiye’s most senior diplomatic positions, for the post of United Nations Secretary-General. (Photo: www.osce.org)
The year 2026 has been marked by several major summits hosted by Türkiye. Following the “NATO Ankara Summit,” held on July 7 and 8, and the “13th Summit of the Council of Heads of State of the Organization of Turkic States,” also held in Ankara on October 29 and 30, world leaders will convene in Antalya next week for the Global Climate Summit, formally known as the “31st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP31).”
Beyond these summits, Türkiye occupies a central position in global geopolitics through the international and regional meetings it hosts, including events such as the 9th Istanbul Mediation Conference held on October 23 and 24, as well as significant new foreign policy initiatives, at a critical time marked by uncertainty and profound upheaval in international and regional affairs.
Nevertheless, in my assessment, one of the most significant and memorable developments in Türkiye’s foreign policy this year is the nomination of Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu, who has held some of Türkiye’s highest diplomatic offices, including Minister of Foreign Affairs, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Permanent Representative of Türkiye to the United Nations, for the position of Secretary-General of the United Nations.
A First in the History of the Republic
For the first time in its history, the Republic of Türkiye has nominated a candidate for UN Secretary-General—a significant milestone. The formal nomination of a Turkish diplomat to an office whose holder is regarded, in a sense, a representative of the international community is an exciting development.
As a fellow diplomat and a friend of more than four decades, I take great pride in his nomination and sincerely hope that his candidacy will be successful.
I have confidence in the strength of Turkish diplomacy to overcome the challenges inherent in such a demanding process. Naturally, differing views and questions may arise as this process is assessed. However, as a Turkish diplomat, I prefer to focus on considerations that will contribute to its successful outcome.
I firmly believe that the appointment of a diplomat nominated by Türkiye as Secretary-General of the United Nations would strengthen the UN in the current international environment.
The Path from the OSCE to the UN
Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu currently serves as Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the largest regional security organization to have developed within the framework of “Regional Arrangements” under Chapter VIII (Article 52) of the United Nations Charter. He was appointed to this position in 2024 by consensus of OSCE’s 57 participating States, spanning the Euro-Atlantic and Eurasian regions, from Vancouver to Vladivostok. The successful outcome of Ambassador Sinirlioğlu’s candidacy for UN Secretary-General would undoubtedly be of historic significance.
The Vision Document and the UN Security Council
Ambassador Sinirlioğlu set out ambitious objectives in the vision document he authored. He will continue his extensive consultations in the coming days. As the selection process for the UN Secretary-General and its various stages have already been covered in news reports and articles, I will not repeat those details here.
However, securing the absence of a negative vote from any of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council is of critical importance. Otherwise, regardless of the level of support a candidate receives from the 15-member Security Council, their chances of being selected are effectively eliminated. In this regard, the positions of the United States, the Russian Federation, the People’s Republic of China, the United Kingdom, and France will be largely decisive.
The Permanent Representative of Latvia has assumed the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council from Greece. The UN Security Council held its 8th straw poll on candidates for the next UN Secretary General yesterday. This was the first ballot in which Ambassador Sinirlioğlu was included. The process continues.
A Potential Opportunity for Our Region
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s nomination of Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioğlu, conveyed in a letter dated October 30, 2026, addressed to the President of the UN Security Council, also came at a significant moment. As Greece held the rotating presidency of the UN Security Council in October, the letter was addressed to Aglaia Balta, Greece’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Within the framework of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the joint nomination of candidates by Türkiye and Greece for two senior positions, Secretary General and Director of the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), carried considerable symbolic significance.
The selection process for the UN Secretary-General is, of course, different. Nevertheless, why should Ambassador Sinirlioğlu’s appointment as UN Secretary-General not present an opportunity for Türkiye and Greece to work together in shaping the future of international and regional peace and security? Similarly, why should we not view the appointment of a Greek diplomat to a comparable position in the future as an opportunity to contribute to building peace?
Türkiye and Greece are two neighboring countries, members of the same alliance and bound by their shared geography, that should look to their shared future with hope and contribute to shaping it.
What Is Our Shared Goal in a Changing Global Landscape?
The global landscape is undergoing profound change. In a world that has already endured more than enough wars and disasters, reforming the international order whose foundations were laid in 1945 to meet today’s challenges should be a shared goal for all countries. Such reform is essential to shaping our world’s future, ensuring peace and security, addressing threats across various fields, and preventing the emerging disorder in today’s fragile international environment from becoming permanent.
The UN Secretary-General embodies this shared goal. As a candidate for this position, Ambassador Sinirlioğlu draws his mission, vision, and authority from the Charter of the United Nations.
“The Most Impossible Job on Earth”
While I was serving as Permanent Representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), the European Union’s Permanent Representative gave me a copy of “The United Nations in the New World Disorder.” The book contained transcripts of interviews with five former UN Secretaries-General, prepared for a UN document, as well as contributions from five prominent international relations experts.
Prepared under the direction of UN expert Romuald Sciora, the book also included an article by the EU Permanent Representative to the OSCE, who had previously served as Deputy Permanent Representative at the UN Mission in New York. During our conversations, we often reflected on the experiences he had gained in New York and those I had gained while serving as the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Assistance to Pakistan. We discussed the importance of multilateral institutions such as the UN and the OSCE, emphasizing the need to strengthen the resilience of multilateralism.
Recently, I picked up the book again and reread the transcripts of interviews with Kurt Waldheim, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, Kofi Annan, and Ban Ki-moon.
I also watched footage from the five-part UN documentary series available on YouTube. The first episode of the documentary, “At the Glass Building: The Story of the United Nations as Told by Its Secretaries-General,” also featured footage of the UN’s earliest Secretaries-General: Trygve Lie of Norway, Dag Hammarskjöld of Sweden, and U Thant of Myanmar.
The words spoken by the first UN Secretary-General, Trygve Lie, who resigned under pressure from the Soviet Union, when welcoming his successor, Dag Hammarskjöld, seem as relevant today as ever: “You are going to take over the most impossible job on earth but I wish you all the luck and all the best.”
Whoever succeeds António Guterres as the next UN Secretary-General will likely hear similar words from their predecessor.
