United Nations Secretary General António Guterres’ second term will end on December 31, 2026, but there is not yet a clear candidate to replace him. Initially, Latin Americans expected someone from Central America, South America, or the Caribbean to take the helm, but President Donald Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio made clear that none of the announced candidates met their standards for reform and that the United States would not constrain itself with adherence to United Nations tokenism.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pushed for a Turk to take the helm, pushing long-time loyalist Feridun Sinirlioğlu, a former interim foreign minister.
Several other candidates soon emerged, most prominently, Emirati official Lana Nusseibah, former Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. Behind the scenes, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has pushed for a Turk to take the helm, pushing long-time loyalist Feridun Sinirlioğlu, a former interim foreign minister who now serves as secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Erdoğan and his aides have quietly canvassed other leaders, especially among the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, and say privately they have no objection from anyone but France. Erdoğan, however, believes that either through bribery or coercion, he can force Emmanuel Macron’s acquiescence.
Erdoğan is not pushing a Turk simply out of national pride; he regularly seeks to host international events or insert Turks in leadership positions to extend his policy reach and implement his ideological program. In 2011, he announced Istanbul’s bid to host the Olympics. Turkish officials openly pitched their bid through the lens of religion. Egemen Bağış, a close Erdoğan confidant and bagman, said awarding Turkey the games would allow International Olympic Committee members to prove they were not biased “against a belief group.” Meanwhile, Turkey’s proposed logo featured mosques and the crescent. Turkey has again applied to host the 2036 games. For the International Olympic Committee to choose it, however, no matter how many Turkish bribes are offered, would be shameful since Istanbul mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu announced the bid before his arrest for the crime of being too popular and posing a political challenge to Erdoğan.
Erdoğan openly pushed for Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu to take the helm of the Organization for Islamic Cooperation in January 2005. Turkish officials pointed to the İhsanoğlu appointment as a sign of Turkey’s increased prestige among Islamic countries. Hikmet Çetin, a Turk who served as NATO’s first Senior Civilian Representative in Afghanistan, took a soft approach to the Taliban; billboards went up around Kabul heralding Turkey-Afghanistan Islamic solidarity, rather than Turkey as a NATO member. Erdoğan also maneuvered Ahmet Üzümcü to chair the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons in 2013 to 2018. Fatih Birol leads the International Energy Agency, and has regularly shilled for Erdoğan’s oil and gas projects, favoring the EastMed pipeline through Turkey over safer Greek, Cypriot, and Israeli alternatives.
Sinirlioğlu has the charisma of Michael Dukakis after a double dose of ketamine. His tenure at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has been lackluster at best; he has made no reforms and seems to be a gatekeeper to prevent the organization from making any statements or taking any significant action that undercuts Erdoğan’s diplomatic or financial interests. To open the U.N.’s coffers to him would be to invite a corruption scandal on par with U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Oil-for-Food program.
Sinirlioğlu is Erdoğan’s man. He was undersecretary during Ahmet Davutoğlu’s tenure as foreign minister. He then served Erdoğan loyally at the United Nations for seven years. When Turkish forces invaded and ethnically cleansed Kurdish-administered regions of Syria, Sinirlioğlu told the U.N. Security Council that he would “flatly reject and strongly condemn any misrepresentation of our counter-terrorism operation as an offensive or aggression.” He defended the purge of tens of thousands of Turks following the abortive July 2016 “Reichstag Fire” coup by declaring, “We will never forget this villainy.” Four years later, he warned countries engaging with Syrian Kurds that “your red carpets could quickly be stained with blood.” Sinirlioğlu, meanwhile, was silent on Turkey’s safe-haven for the Islamic State and endorsement and support for Hamas. He was likewise silent on İmamoğlu’s arrest, even as other Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe officials spoke up.
Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become one of the world’s most corrupt countries, on par with Belarus and Egypt.
In July 2026, Russian pranksters telephoned Sinirlioğlu, with one pretending to be Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan. The prankster accused Karekin II, the head of the Armenian church, and asked for Sinirlioğlu’s assistance in helping to remove him. Sinirlioğlu responded, “OK, I’ll do my best; I’ll try.” Such a remark suggests Sinirlioğlu treats Helsinki Principle VII on religious freedom with disdain.
Under Erdoğan, Turkey has become one of the world’s most corrupt countries, on par with Belarus and Egypt. This is due to not only the Turkish leader, but also the silence, cowardice, and complicity of men like Sinirlioğlu.
All of this should disqualify Sinirlioğlu as an individual, but the notion that any Turk should lead the U.N. or any other organization should be a non-starter for other reasons. Turkey has occupied Cyprus for more than a half-century. The idea that a desire to protect Cyprus’ Muslim minority motivated and justified Turkey’s invasion is nonsense: The bulk of the invasion occurred after the Cypriot crisis had passed and while the two sides were negotiating in peace talks in Geneva. Simply put, Turkey is occupying European Union territory and so long as it does, no Turk should have any leadership position in the United Nations or any international organization, nor should Turkey receive any consideration to host the United Nations.
