Sedat Önal

Athens and Ankara are intensifying joint diplomatic efforts to secure Greek and Turkish candidates for two top posts at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. Greece has nominated Mania Telalian to head the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, while Turkey has nominated Ambassador Feridun Sinirlioglu for secretary-general.

US Assistant Secretary of State James O'Brien will meet jointly on Wednesday with Greece's Ambassador to the United States Ekaterini Nassika and her Turkish counterpart, Sedat Onal.

The meeting is scheduled at the State Department, ahead of a critical one-on-one between President Joe Biden and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, set to take place a mile away at the White House.

Türkiye has appointed Sedat Önal as its new ambassador to Washington and Ahmet Yıldız as its permanent representative to the United Nations in New York, according to diplomatic sources.

Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan notified Önal and Yıldız of their new duties by phone, the sources informed.

The mood in Ankara was not a bright one in the aftermath of the meeting between US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu in Washington, as it did not produce the results it anticipated, at least based on what is being discussed publicly. 

Türkiye and the United States held a third meeting of the Türkiye-U.S. Strategic Mechanism Dialogue on Sept. 15 in Washington chaired by Turkish Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, while U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland also participated in the dialogue.

The officials from Türkiye, Sweden and Finland have agreed to intensify technical works for the two Nordic states' accession to the alliance, said the Turkish presidency in a statement on Aug. 26.

Presidential spokesperson İbrahim Kalın has said Türkiye, NATO, Sweden and Finland will hold a quadruple leaders' meeting on June 28 ahead of the NATO Summit in Madrid.

Presidential Spokesperson İbrahim Kalın and Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal departed on June 19 for Brussels where they will have discussions over the documents being negotiated between the parties for Sweden's and Finland's applications for NATO membership.

Sweden and Finland applied to join NATO on May 18 with hopes that the process will be completed as soon as possible.

Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Önal held a telephone conversation on June 2 with Permanent Representative of the US to the United Nations, Linda Thomas-Greenfield discussing the developments in Syria including Turkey's planned military operation into the neighboring country.

A senior Turkish official has called on the European Union to treat Turkey fairly, underlining that the candidate country's reform process will be accelerated to the extent consideration for full membership is strengthened.

Turkey and the EU held the "Political Dialogue Meeting" at the level of political directors of both sides following a three-year hiatus.