Straddling two continents and once the seat of successive empires, Istanbul — with its exotic allure and heady vistas — has long been a favorite haven for assorted spies, inspiring countless novels and movies, including the James Bond thriller "From Russia with Love."

It was thus fitting, one might surmise, that Sir Richard Moore,  the outgoing head of the UK’s national spy agency, MI6, and a self-avowed Turcophile, would select the city to deliver his farewell speech during a press conference there. His Turkish hosts were surely delighted by the reason Moore, who previously served as the UK ambassador to Turkey, proffered. “Turkey is a nation of pivotal importance to the international system. On almost all of the issues that I have grappled with as chief of MI6,” Moore told his audience in flawless Turkish, “Turkey has been a key player.” These included the conflict in Syria and Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine.

However, Moore’s subsequent call in English for “those men and women in Russia who have truths to share and the courage to share them” to contact MI6 through its new and secure dark web portal, Silent Courier, triggered howls of indignation. “For Turkey to have been unaware of the substance of Moore’s public comments was a scandal,” fumed Barcin Yinanc, a veteran diplomatic observer. The possibility that it was aware and had approved them “is another scandal,” she added.

Moore delivered his Sept. 19 speech, blasting Russian President Vladimir Putin and “his lack of concern for human life,” at the British Consulate in Istanbul’s historic Pera district, just a stone’s throw from the Russian Consulate.