Hurriyet published an article by Barcin Yinanc entitled 'Turkey needs active ambassadors to pacify PM and FM'. "I asked last week whether Turkish ambassadors would hold genuine brainstorming sessions in their annual meeting. And I had expressed the wish that they would not get together just to talk about the greatness of Turkish foreign policy," the article begins.
"Now I see that I can’t compete with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, even in my dreams, when it comes to big egos, because the definition of “greatness” for Turkish foreign policy now appears to be an underestimation when compared to the definition of “legendary,” the article reads.
"Davutoğlu said, for instance, that Turkey’s policy in Somalia had become legendary. The fact that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan took the risk of spending the night in Somalia together with his family has become legendary. But is it enough to call the whole policy legendary? After all, are we no longer talking about a failed state? Is Somalia no longer considered one of the world’s poorest, most violent countries?" the author writes.
"I believe the most meaningful messages given to the ambassadors were those of President Abdullah Gül. He talked about the Chinese example and how China has been consistently walking towards the targets it has set since the late 1970s," the article reads.
"Therefore, we will indeed need ambassadorial activism to pacify the (highly likely) provocative statements that will be coming from politicians up to 2014. That activism will revolve around damage control, since Turkey will try to revive accession talks while simultaneously EU-bashing; get along well with the U.S. while Israel-bashing, increase trade with Iran while Tehran-bashing; and expect understanding from Shiites while al-Assad and al-Maliki-bashing. I am not even mentioning Greek Cypriots or Armenians," the author concludes.
