Just what was in the shoes? A political message? A secret tape recorder? A stock market tip? These were some of the questions flooding social media after the US ambassador to Turkey, Tom Barrack, showed up at a Dec. 16 meeting with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan sporting a pair of black Nike trainers with thick white soles.

Veteran journalist Hilal Koylu noted on X that Barrack, who also serves as the US Syria envoy, had worn the same shoes to a meeting with Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa. Nike’s promotional tagline is “Just do it!” “So, what was the message then?” Koylu mused. 

Coming a day after Barrack’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, the orders to Ankara from Washington were clear: “Fix your relations with Israel!” Or perhaps Barrack was telling Ankara to stop dithering and return the Russian S-400 missile batteries that had sent US-Turkish ties into a tailspin back home. This is one of the ideas being floated to secure Turkey’s re-entry into the F-35 program, from which it was ejected for buying the missiles in the face of repeated US admonishments. 

Arif Nacaroglu, a prolific poster whose comments are often mired in conspiracy theories, was having none of it. He told his more than 162,000 X followers, “No ambassador would turn up at a diplomatic meeting wearing sports shoes. There’s a listening device in those shoes.”