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Türkiye is preparing to nominate Feridun Sinirlioglu, the OSCE secretary-general and former foreign minister, as its candidate for U.N. secretary-general in the coming days, Turkish sources told Türkiye Today.
Sources familiar with the matter said the timing of the announcement depends on the outcome of an informal straw poll at the U.N. Security Council on Thursday.
Ankara is expected to finalize Sinirlioglu's candidacy after assessing the Council's leanings toward other candidates. In six informal polls held so far at the Security Council, no candidate has won the backing of all five veto-wielding permanent members.
Sources said the Council's divided stance shows members have failed to reach consensus on the candidates, and that Türkiye is expected to name the veteran diplomat Sinirlioglu on Friday evening.
"That's why Thursday is critical," an official told Türkiye Today.
The official said the UAE candidate has already drawn serious pushback over her positions on crisis regions. Stressing that Türkiye is not positioning itself against any candidate, the official said, "Of course, we are not positioning ourselves against one or several candidates. Türkiye's view of the U.N. is grounded in the principle that the world is bigger than five, a fully participatory, equitably represented, democratic outlook where decision-making bodies do not simply prioritize the interests of powerful states."
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has also been holding calls with the leaders of Security Council member states ahead of the process. The most recent of these public calls took place with French President Emmanuel Macron last night.
The leaders discussed the selection of the U.N.’s next secretary-general, a Turkish statement said, with Erdogan stating that the new chief “must have the vision and experience to make the U.N. once again the center of multilateralism and to effectively carry out the necessary reforms.”
The prevailing view is that Security Council members will again fail to reach consensus at Thursday's straw poll. If Sinirlioglu's candidacy becomes official, he would be the eighth name added to the list of contenders seeking to succeed Guterres, whose term ends in late December.
The current frontrunner is former Costa Rican Vice President Rebeca Grynspan, who won nine "encourage" votes in the early October poll. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has also emerged as a strong contender.
While candidates for U.N. secretary-general come from member states, the final say rests with the Security Council's five permanent members (P5).
The process begins with a formal nomination from a member state, after which candidates go through a secret straw poll in the 15-member Security Council before being recommended to the General Assembly.
For a candidate to be put forward for General Assembly approval, they need at least nine affirmative votes in the Council and no veto from any of the five permanent members: the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France.
In short, the wider pool of candidates can be shaped by the whole world, but narrowing that list down and recommending a single name to the General Assembly rests entirely with these five permanent members.
The five veto-wielding permanent members of the Security Council, the United States, Russia, China, Britain and France, do not disclose their preferences among the candidates. Final approval rests with the 193-member General Assembly.
Born in 1956 in the Black Sea city of Giresun, Sinirlioglu studied political science at Ankara University, then earned a master’s degree and doctorate in political science and international relations at Bogazici University.
Sinirlioglu's diplomatic journey began in the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held various important roles over the years. He served as the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs twice, first from 2009 to 2015 and then again from 2015 to 2016.
Between these two terms, he briefly served as Türkiye's Minister of Foreign Affairs in the interim election government from August to November 2015. From 2016 to 2023, Sinirlioglu represented Türkiye as its Permanent Representative to the United Nations.
Sinirlioglu serves as secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since December 2024.
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