OSCE Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine gets a new head. Turkish diplomat Halit Çevik will step in, replacing his compatriot Ertugrul Apakan. Turkish foreign ministry reported that on March 27.
Çevik won the contest where six candidates competed. He's going to take office on June 1.
Ertugrul Apakan has been chairing the Mission since April 2, 2014.
The OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine (SMM) was deployed on 21 March 2014, following a request to the OSCE by Ukraine’s government and a consensus decision by all 57 OSCE participating States. The SMM is an unarmed, civilian mission, present on the ground 24/7 in all regions of Ukraine. Its main tasks are to observe and report in an impartial and objective way on the situation in Ukraine and to facilitate dialogue among all parties to the crisis.
