At annual meeting, ambassadors talk "visionary" diplomacy

Turkey's "visionary diplomats" are in pursuit of "visionary diplomacy," as stated in objectives set by Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, and Turkey's ambassadors met last week to discuss ways to explain the country's evolving foreign policy both to the public and to the countries where they are posted. The conference, the third of its kind since 2008, began in Ankara last Monday and continued in the eastern Anatolian province of Erzurum as part of efforts to communicate the new foreign policy to the entire country. In his opening address to the meeting, Davutoglu set the goal of putting Turkey at the top of the "wise" countries of the world. Diplomats should not be mere firefighters rushing to stop crises in any corner of the world but should also pursue policies to prevent crises from happening. This year Afghan Foreign Minister Zalmai Rassoul and Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou were distinguished guests at the meeting. Papandreou attended the Erzurum leg of the program, where he inaugurated the city's new sports facilities with his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan; Erzurum will be hosting the Universiade winter games beginning later this month. Earlier the two had a working breakfast for some four hours. But Papandreou's address to the ambassadors sent some unexpected shockwaves, when he called Turkey an "occupier" in Northern Cyprus and criticized Ankara for violating Greek airspace. Davutoglu, accompanying the Greek prime minister to the airport, told Papandreou that he could have made a more visionary speech, instead of letting fly the arrows of criticism, said one source involved in the talks.