Ambassador John MacGregor, Head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat
On 1 August, the OSCE community celebrates a landmark anniversary, fifty years since the Helsinki Final Act, the OSCE’s founding document was first signed.
It is necessary to turn our minds all the way back to 1975, when the representatives of the founding States were engaged in the work to establish the OSCE. At the time of the signing of the Helsinki Final Act in the summer of 1975, I had already been wearing the uniform of a Canadian Naval Officer for over a year. I can personally recall my astonishment at the news coming out of Helsinki, that what was “East” and “West” – the Warsaw Pact and NATO – had reached agreement on a major document, the 1975 Helsinki Final Act. It is important to recall that this was definitely not an agreement among ‘like-minded’ states, but rather it was an unexpected breakthrough with consensus on security.
The signing of the Helsinki Final Act marked a breakthrough in relations between Eastern and Western countries, which were able to agree on important compromises resulting in a comprehensive approach to security. This approach is based on the understanding that security is not just the absence of military conflicts, but also economic stability and a healthy environment, as well as the unhindered enjoyment by everyone of their rights and fundamental freedoms.
As the diplomatic representatives gathered fifty years ago, they also established what are referred to as “Decalogue” or the “Helsinki Principles.” The Helsinki principles include sovereign equality of states; refraining from threat or use of force; inviolability of state borders, territorial integrity of states; peaceful settlement of disputes, non-intervention in internal affairs, while providing that participating States are responsible to each other for the implementation of OSCE commitments, respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, equal rights and self-determination, co-operation among States, and fulfilment of international legal obligations in good faith.
Thus, 50 years ago, the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe (CSCE) was founded in Helsinki. For almost twenty years, the CSCE existed in the form of meetings and gatherings in which participating States elaborated commitments across all three dimensions of security – politico-military, economic-environmental and human. In 1995, the CSCE was institutionally transformed into the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), with permanent structures and institutions, field missions, and mechanisms to address various security-related issues.
If we reflect on the historic significance of the Helsinki Final Act, we should note the following key aspects. The Helsinki Final Act laid the ground for what we now know as the OSCE, and what is now the world’s largest regional security organization (established under Chapter 8 of the UN Charter), and now representing one-billion people in our part of the world.
The Helsinki Final Act established an unprecedented mechanism of building trust and bridging differences between participating States with diverse agendas. The founders of the OSCE set the main constituents of a process leading to peace, namely dialogue that leads to understanding, understanding that leads to building confidence, confidence that leads to trust, trust that leads to less conflict and finally less conflict leading to security and peace. It is remarkable that these principles are as relevant today, as they were fifty years ago, which is certainly proof of how far-sighted the Organization has always been.
Guided by the OSCE’s comprehensive approach to security, the OSCE participating States committed themselves to political dialogue and multilateral co-operation across three dimensions of OSCE security.
Dialogue has always been a cornerstone of the OSCE, taking place in various forms, with differing goals and aims, pursuing measurable goals, and still following the process launched fifty years ago. Yet, the OSCE goes beyond dialogue to action. In my 18 years as an OSCE official, in many locations, I have seen first-hand, some of the impact that the OSCE has had, directly or indirectly changing the lives of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.
I have seen the establishment and long-term institutionalization of more effective and efficient methods of public assembly management. I have seen the establishment and long-term institutionalization of new methods and standards of judicial education and accountability, effectively updating justice and the rule of law. I have seen how the OSCE monitored and reported on conflict situations, becoming a trusted source of information. I have seen how the actions of the OSCE, using many of the available the tools in the OSCE conflict prevention toolbox, prevented conflict between OSCE participating States.
It is highly symbolic that the OSCE marks its 50th anniversary in the year of 2025 when we celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of Turkmenistan’s permanent neutrality status, and in the year which was declared the “International Year of Peace and Trust” by a Resolution of the United Nations General Assembly, at the initiative of neutral Turkmenistan. By putting forward this initiative, Turkmenistan once again set a highly positive example of a neutral state making active use of its permanent neutrality status for strengthening security and stability in the region and beyond.
Having served as the head of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat for four years, I had the honour of seeing how the actions and foreign policy of Turkmenistan, in synergy with OSCE principles and commitments, has significantly contributed to advancing dialogue, understanding confidence building, trust, and peace.
In its turn, the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat actively works to support Turkmenistan in the implementation of its OSCE commitments across three dimensions based on the nexus with the country’s priorities.
I complete my honourable mission in Turkmenistan in the days when we mark the 50th anniversary of the Helsinki Final Act, I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt appreciation to the President of Turkmenistan and the National Leader for their every support for the activities of the OSCE Centre in Ashgabat. I would also like to voice my sincere gratitude to all partners in Turkmenistan, first of all, to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for highly constructive co-operation. As I complete my mission in Turkmenistan, I take the warmest memories of your wonderful country and its hospitable people.
Allow me to share my firm belief that co-operation between Turkmenistan and the OSCE will continue strengthening and expanding to make our world more secure, politically and militarily, economically and environmentally, and to make it the place where every person has equal access to justice and enjoys equal rights and freedoms. /// nCa, 31 July 2025