OSCE’s Ukraine mission to be headed by Turkish diplomat

VIENNA

Ertuğrul Apakan served as Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2012.

A retired Turkish ambassador has been appointed as the head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s (OSCE) monitoring mission to Ukraine.

OSCE Chairperson-in-Office and Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter has announced the appointment of Ambassador Ertuğrul Apakan of Turkey as chief monitor, Mr. Mark Etherington of the United Kingdom and Mr. Alexander Hug of Switzerland as deputy chief monitors of the special monitoring mission to Ukraine, according to a statement on the OSCE’s official website.

Ten advance teams have successfully deployed throughout the country to all the locations foreseen (Chernivtsi, Dnepropetrovsk, Donetsk, Ivano-Frankivsk, Kharkiv, Kherson, Kyiv, Luhansk, Lviv and Odessa). Seconded monitors are joining the advance teams this week, with all deployment going according to schedule.

As of Wednesday, April 2, 2014, the total number of staff in the Special Monitoring Mission, which in a first phase will consist of 100 and may expand up to 500 monitors, has risen to 63, including Turkish observers. More than 600 applications were submitted in response to the first vacancy note. 30 participating States are currently represented in the Mission.

“I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all the participating states that volunteered to second high-quality candidates on such short notice, as well as to all those who have offered to support the Mission through financial or material contributions. Without the prompt and generous contributions of all, the Special Mission could not have been deployed in such an effective way” Burkhalter said.

Apakan had played an active role in promoting peacemaking diplomacy during his tenure as Turkey’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 2009 to 2012.