Turkey steps up lobbying to appoint Erdogan insider as OSCE secretary general with Greek support

Levent Kenez/Stockholm

Turkey and Greece have agreed to collaborate on key positions within the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. Turkey wants the post of secretary general, while Greece wants its candidate to be appointed director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The Turkish candidate for OSCE secretary general is a controversial former diplomat. During his tenure as Turkey’s permanent representative to the UN, he accused Greece of violating the demilitarization of the Aegean islands, as required by the Lausanne and Paris peace treaties, and filed a complaint against Greece with the UN. The ODIHR, whose potential next director is backed by Turkey, published a report in May 2023 arguing that the election in which Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was re-elected was not fair.

Feridun Sinirliolu, a trusted Erdogan ally with a controversial past involving the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), was appointed by UN Secretary-General António Guterres as his special coordinator for Afghanistan on April 25, 2023. Sinirliolu’s appointment raised significant concerns due to his alleged involvement in secret negotiations with ISIS and other clandestine activities that benefited financially from ISIS-controlled oil.

In 2014, Sinirliolu was implicated in a plot involving the deliberate surrender of the Turkish Consulate General and consulate staff in Mosul to ISIS, resulting in their hostage-taking by ISIS. This action was allegedly part of a strategy to facilitate negotiations with ISIS, leading to the release of ISIS detainees from Turkish prisons and financial gains from smuggled oil. ztrk Ylmaz, then Consul General in Mosul, accused the Turkish government of selling out the hostages to benefit from ISIS oil in Syria. He revealed that his numerous attempts to get Turkish authorities to launch airstrikes on advancing ISIS troops were ignored and that emergency cables he sent to Ankara disappeared, suggesting that Sinirliolu was involved in a cover-up.

Sinirliolu has a long history of conducting covert operations for Erdogan, including discussions of a false flag operation to justify a military invasion of Syria in 2014. His involvement in these operations illustrates a pattern of using clandestine means of political and financial gain.

Sinirliolu has also been actively involved in Turkey's campaign to challenge Greece's sovereignty over some Aegean islands in 2021, leading up to a Turkish-Greek rapprochement in 2023.

In a letter dated July 13, 2021, to the UN Security Council, Sinirliolu, Turkey's permanent representative to the UN, wrote that Greece's deliberate and persistent violation of the demilitarization provisions of the Lausanne and Paris Peace Treaties, which are essential to the achievement of their object and purpose, constitutes a serious threat to Turkey's security.

Greece is violating the fundamental provisions of the treaties under which it acquired sovereignty over the islands, which, from a legal point of view, means that Greece cannot, vis-à-vis Turkey, invoke its title under the same treaties to the goals ofa delimitation of maritime borders, he added.

Sinirliolu claimed that Greece, acting unilaterally since 1960 and in flagrant violation of the relevant provisions of these treaties, had substantially violated its demilitarization obligations by concentrating its troops, establishing permanent military installations and carrying out several military activities in the eastern Aegean islands.

In a follow-up letter dated September 30, 2021, Sinirliolu provided a more detailed dossier, with a six-point legal opinion on how Greece had violated the terms of the treaty.

By militarizing the islands in question, Greece has lost its right to assert the opposability against Turkey of the above-mentioned treaties and the rights it claims to derive from them, he writes.

According to the Security and Human Rights Monitor, which monitors the OSCE’s work, Sinirliolu faces five competitors for the post of secretary general. They include Jan Braathu of Norway, currently head of the OSCE mission to Serbia; Igli Hasani of Albania, who serves as minister for Europe and foreign affairs; Christophe Kamp, the permanent representative of the Netherlands to the OSCE; John MacGregor of Canada, who heads the OSCE centre in Ashgabat; and Marcel Peko of Slovakia, special representative of the OSCE chairmanship-in-office and OSCE project co-ordinator in Ukraine.

Ankara is supporting Maria Telalian, legal adviser to the Greek Foreign Ministry and head of the legal department, for the leadership of the ODIHR, in exchange for Athens' support for Sinirliolu.

Last year, a joint observation mission by the ODIHR, the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly (OSCE PA) and the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) published preliminary findings and conclusions on the Turkish elections of 14 May 2023. They said that incumbent President Erdogan and the ruling parties enjoyed an unfair advantage.

The mission highlighted the continued restrictions on fundamental freedoms such as the rights of assembly, association and expression, which have hampered the participation of opposition politicians, parties, civil society and independent media in the electoral process. Furthermore, the statement highlighted the extensive and positive media coverage of President Erdogan, particularly by state-run media.

The election of the OSCE Secretary General involves nominations from any participating State, with the final decision depending on the consensus of the 57 member States. Although theoretically equal in terms of influence, practical considerations often favour candidates supported by key OSCE players such as the EU bloc, the United States and Russia.

As the current OSCE chair, Malta is responsible for impartially presenting the successful candidates to the OSCE General Assembly in September. Helga Maria Schmid's term as secretary general was extended due to Russia's veto, which prevented the appointment of a successor.

According to diplomatic sources, Turkey's candidacy is expected to be supported by Russia. In this case, Turkey will also have to secure the support of the United States and the EU. In addition, thanks to cooperation with Greece, Cyprus is not expected to veto it, despite the discontent of the Greek Cypriots. According to Turkish media, Ankara also expects Sinirliolu to gain the support of Armenia. In addition, instructions have been sent to embassies to actively promote his candidacy, emphasizing the partnership between Turkey and Greece.