Feridun Hadi Sinirlioğlu (born 30 January 1956) is a Turkish diplomat and politician serving as the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) since 6 December 2024. Previously, he served as permanent representative of Turkey to the United Nations from 2016 to 2023 and as the

Minister of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and foreign relations, relations, diplomacy, bilateralism, ...

of Turkey from August 2015 to November 2015.

Early life and career

Sinirlioğlu was born in 1956 in Görele, Giresun Province. He graduated from

Ankara University Ankara University () is a public university, public research university in Ankara, the capital of Turkey. It was the first higher education institution founded in Turkey after the History of the Republic of Turkey, formation of the Turkish republ ...

’s Faculty of Political Science with a B.A. in 1978. He holds an M.A. and a Ph.D. in political science and international relations from Boğaziçi University. His doctoral dissertation was on Kant’s political philosophy.

Diplomatic and bureaucratic career

Foreign roles

Sinirlioğlu joined the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

in 1982. After working at the Human Resources Department and the Multilateral Cultural Relations Department in Ankara, he was appointed in 1983 to the Turkish Embassy in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

where he served as Second Secretary and then First Secretary between 1985-1988. He was then transferred to the Turkish Embassy in

Beirut Beirut ( ; ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Lebanon. , Greater Beirut has a population of 2.5 million, just under half of Lebanon's population, which makes it the List of largest cities in the Levant region by populatio ...

where he served as Deputy Chief of Mission until 1990. Returning to Ankara, between 1991 and 1992 he worked as First Secretary at the Bilateral Political Department in charge of Greece, as Special Advisor to the Deputy Undersecretary for Bilateral Political Affairs, as Special Advisor to the Undersecretary and then as Speechwriter to the Prime Minister. Following that, he served as Political Counselor at Turkey’s Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1992 until 1996. In 1996, he became Chief Foreign Policy Advisor to President

Süleyman Demirel Sami Süleyman Gündoğdu Demirel (; 1 November 1924 – 17 June 2015) was a Turkish people, Turkish politician, engineer, and statesman who served as the List of Presidents of Turkey, 9th President of Turkey from 1993 to 2000. He previously serv ...

. After serving the President for four years, in 2000 he became Deputy Director General for the Middle East and North Africa. He was appointed as Ambassador to Israel in 2002. Upon his return to Ankara in 2007, he became Deputy Under Secretary for Bilateral Political Affairs. He was promoted as Undersecretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in August 2009. He served in that capacity until August 2015. Sinirlioğlu served as the

for the interim government between 28 August 2015 and 24 November 2015. He was then reappointed as Undersecretary and served in that capacity until October 2016, when he assumed his position as the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Turkey to the United Nations. He was elected as the OSCE Secretary General by vote of all 57 countries following the 31st

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

Ministerial Council meeting held in Malta on 6 December 2024.

Minister of Foreign Affairs

Sinirlioğlu served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the interim government between 28 August and 24 November 2015.

References

External links