The race to choose the next United Nations secretary-general remains unresolved after the Security Council’s latest informal poll, and Türkiye has now put forward Feridun Sinirlioğlu, the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, as an official contender.
Türkiye’s UN ambassador, Ahmet Yıldız, submitted President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s nomination letter to the presidents of the General Assembly and Security Council on Friday, October 30. Turkish diplomatic sources said the latest Security Council straw poll had ended without a clear consensus.
Sinirlioğlu served briefly as Türkiye’s foreign minister in 2015 and was the country’s permanent representative to the United Nations from 2016 to 2023. He currently leads the OSCE, where his existing mandate runs until December 2027.
The next secretary-general is due to take office on January 1, 2027, after António Guterres’ term ends on December 31. The Security Council must recommend a candidate: at least nine of its 15 members must support the nominee, while any of the five permanent members can block the choice with a veto. The General Assembly then makes the formal appointment.
Sinirlioğlu joins seven other nominated candidates. The informal expectation that the UN’s top post may rotate to a candidate from Latin America or the Caribbean is another factor in a contest that still requires agreement among powers with competing priorities.
Photo: Maxim Klimashin / Unsplash
