OSCE Secretary General Speaks in Minsk About the Indivisibility of Security

Reform.news Editorial Team · 3 November 2026, 15:05

https://reform.news/en/osce-secretary-general-speaks-in-minsk-about-the-indivisibility-of-security/

OSCE Secretary General Feridun Sinirlioğlu, a representative of Türkiye, called for keeping channels of dialogue open at the Minsk International Conference on Eurasian Security. He also repeatedly referred to the indivisibility of security on the Eurasian continent, a term frequently used by Russian and Belarusian diplomats.

Sinirlioğlu thanked the Republic of Belarus for inviting him to Minsk and organising a forum that brought together a wide range of views on what he described as the most important and urgent issue on today’s agenda: security.

He said that the security picture across Eurasia had to be pieced together, noting that it consisted of many elements, each of which played a major role and was essential to achieving a common picture of shared and indivisible security.

Sinirlioğlu called on countries to overcome their differences. He noted that the OSCE was the largest organisation in the field of security and had extensive experience in overcoming disagreements. The Secretary General cited examples from the organisation’s history in the late 20th century.

He recalled that countries had agreed that cooperation and security were indivisible and that ensuring security required them to communicate effectively with one another. He said this commitment had been reaffirmed in the concept of indivisible security across the Eurasian space, from Lisbon to Vladivostok.

Sinirlioğlu said that security could not be achieved through rivalry, but only through cooperation. He added that the current situation showed that dialogue remained possible, even in very difficult times, and called on countries to use their political capital to resolve differences.

He warned that Russia’s war against Ukraine risked not only causing further casualties but also entrenching a war mentality.

He said that war could come to be seen as endless and impossible to resolve, while people might begin to believe that dialogue could not solve the problem and that the conflict would simply continue in another form. If this war mentality took root, he warned, there would be virtually no room left for diplomatic solutions.

Sinirlioğlu described this as the most serious danger that needed to be addressed. He stressed that security could not be achieved through military means alone and required diplomatic commitments and practical steps to reduce risks. He called for mechanisms to increase transparency, resolve disagreements and build trust and confidence.

Although conditions were currently very difficult, he said, countries needed to return to trust and mutual understanding and use them to adapt to the new reality. He added that trust and reciprocal action alone were not enough, and that political will was also needed to implement measures.

He said countries needed to be able to listen to one another even when their interests did not coincide. Dialogue, he stressed, did not mean making concessions but involved mutual responsibility, which was more important than ever. To build a safer future for everyone, he said, countries needed honest, open and inclusive dialogue and discussion about what future security across the European space should look like.