Are Western diplomats the latest targets of Erdogan’s fury?
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan says it’s not the business of diplomats to follow the trials of prominent journalists, but retired Turkish ambassadors say he's wrong.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not known for his fondness of diplomats, diplomatic niceties or, for that matter, diplomacy itself. It doesn’t matter if the diplomats are Turkish or foreign. He has made his distaste for them known.
While he was still prime minister, Erdogan gave Turkey’s ambassador in Berlin a public dressing down in 2006 over instructions from the ministry to only accept photographs without Islamic headscarves from women for official documents. He was applauded by expatriate Turkish supporters there, undermining the prestige of the ambassador in the country where he was serving.
