Free of domestic politicking, Turkish foreign policy may have once focused only on promoting national interests in a dangerous and turbulent geopolitical environment. Today, however, it has become an extension of the political struggle between the Islamist government of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and the country's secular opposition. This struggle resurfaced again this week during a visit to Egypt by senior deputies from the main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP), who also happen to be among Turkey’s most prominent former diplomats.

The delegation included Faruk Logoglu, a seasoned diplomat who has served as ambassador to Washington, and Osman Koruturk who served as Turkish ambassador to Berlin and Paris before retiring and joining the CHP in 2010.

Koruturk, as Ankara’s special Iraq envoy from 2003 to 2005, was the first official to argue that Iraqi Kurds are potential partners for Turkey, not the divisive demons that Turkish ultra-nationalists still consider them to be. Following this logic, Ankara subsequently went on to establish the good ties it enjoys today with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Despite having such foresight and proven diplomatic track records, both Logoglu and Koruturk nevertheless fit the model of diplomats derided by Erdogan as "mon cher." When used in this context, the French term, which means "my dear," is not unlike the US reference to American diplomats as "cookie pushers."