Turkish FM Davutoğlu warns envoys not to speak to press

ANKARA – Hürriyet Daily News

The warning from Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu came Jan. 15 at a morning session during the ongoing Sixth Ambassadors’ Conference. AA Photo

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu has cautioned ambassadors of Turkey not to leak information from closed door meetings to the media, noting such leaks would lead ministers to avoid briefings to envoys at annual ambassadors’ conferences.

The warning from the minister came Jan. 15 at a morning session during the ongoing Sixth Ambassadors’ Conference. After Davutoğlu’s remarks, a scheduled briefing to be delivered by the country’s top intelligence official to its ambassadors was canceled in an apparently last minute decision.

National Intelligence Organization (MİT) Undersecretary Hakan Fidan was scheduled to address the ambassadors on Jan. 16 at, the fourth day of the week-long conference. However, his address was omitted in the regular daily program note sent by the Foreign Ministry to press rooms late on Jan. 15.
Fidan had addressed last year’s conference at a closed-door briefing.

On the same day, several media outlets reported Deputy Prime Minister Beşir Atalay’s remarks during a closed-door session with ambassadors on Jan. 14 when he said countries like Germany and Iran are complicating Turkey’s efforts to end a militant Kurdish insurgency at perceived injustice.

Foreign Ministry spokesperson Levent Gümrükçü told Anadolu Agency on Jan. 15 that some reports in the Turkish media about Atalay’s remarks addressing the ambassadors’ conference did not reflect the truth.