Turkish candidate for top UN post reflects Ankara’s reform ambition
Daily Sabah · Yusuf Ziya Durmuş ·
Veteran diplomat Feridun Sinirlioğlu entered the race to pick the next U.N. secretary-general as experts say the first Turkish candidate for the job is...
On Friday, Feridun Sinirlioğlu was scheduled to be interviewed by the United Nations in a broadcast session called “interactive dialogue,” as the international body seeks its next secretary-general, a prestigious job a Turkish national has never been nominated for before. His vision statement, presented to the U.N. as part of his application to the post, lays out his aspiration to uphold the body’s mission for global peace. Experts say this aligns well with Türkiye’s advocacy for a fairer world where the U.N. represents more than a bunch of major powers.
The 70-year-old diplomat is no stranger to the atmosphere, with a career that began at the Turkish Foreign Ministry in the 1980s and took him from Kenya to New York over decades. The former foreign minister worked as Türkiye’s representative at the United Nations between 2016 and 2023 and as a U.N. Special Coordinator on Afghanistan. He currently serves as secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).
He seems like the perfect candidate for Türkiye, which has raised its diplomatic profile in the past two decades as an influential actor in global affairs.
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