“Turkey’s visibility in multilateral diplomacy, with posts at international organizations, is likely to further grow with Ambassador Ersin Ercin seeking to become the next secretary-general of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE),” Today’s Zaman daily reports.

“Ambassador Ercin, currently representing Turkey in Brazil, is also President Abdullah Gul’s special envoy for European security. Ercin has already secured support from a considerable number of the 56-member security organization for replacing the outgoing secretary-general, Ambassador Marc Perrin de Brichambaut of France. Gul will support Ercin’s bid during the 2010 OSCE Summit of Heads of State or Government which will take place in Astana, Kazakhstan on Dec. 1-2,” the source says.

“After joining the Turkish Foreign Ministry in 1982, Ercin served in different departments at the headquarters in Ankara, including the departments of economic relations; international security, military relations and disarmament; maritime and aviation; Balkans; and America. In addition to missions in Khartoum and Damascus, he served at Turkey’s permanent representative offices to international organizations such as the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the United Nations. From 2001 to 2004, he was deputy permanent representative at the OSCE, Vienna, and from 2004 to 2006, he was deputy permanent representative to the UN in New York,” the daily reads.

Ercin most recently served as deputy director general for the Americas at the headquarters before being posted to Brasilia as ambassador in May 2009.

As NEWS.am reported previously, OSCE Summit will be held in Astana on Dec. 1-2 and. It will bring together presidents and prime ministers from 56 OSCE member countries and 12 OSCE partner countries, as well as the heads of 68 international organizations. The last OSCE Summit was held in Istanbul in 1999.