We met with a group of consular and political officers at the U.S. Consulate in Istanbul this afternoon. There've been comments (I won't go so far as to call them complaints) from various quarters about the consulate's request that the meeting be considered off-the-record. There have been some obligatory references to freedom of speech and some rather uncharitable comparisons between Turks' and the FSOs' willingness to talk openly with us. All of these complaints strike me as something closely akin to rubbish (if not, in fact, the beast itself).
Of course the consulate briefing was off-the-record. Individual officers in any country's foreign service don't have on-the-record opinions - their opinions are the official party line. While I'm sure we could have gotten an on-the-record briefing, it would have differed very little in content or flavor from the papers they gave us or the State Department website. Going off the record allowed the FSOs present to actually voice their opinions on U.S.-Turkey relations or whatever.
Furthermore, comparing the consulate's position with the more open-mouthed Turks we've met on the street is ludicrous. Of course they didn't speak with us off the record. There is a huge difference between the private opinions of individuals and the public opinions of governments, particularly the United States. Private citizens, for all their being wonderful people, do not have a foreign policy agenda and do not worry about plausible deniability, but governments do. We never talked with members of the Turkish foreign policy community, which is a shame. But if we did, it either would have been a) on the record and the party line, or much more unlikely b) very off the record and something approaching not the party line.
I know it's fun to criticize the U.S. government. I know that unfavorably comparing the U.S. to whatever country you're currently touring is chic and hip. But this is a little ridiculous.
Of course the consulate briefing was off-the-record. Individual officers in any country's foreign service don't have on-the-record opinions - their opinions are the official party line. While I'm sure we could have gotten an on-the-record briefing, it would have differed very little in content or flavor from the papers they gave us or the State Department website. Going off the record allowed the FSOs present to actually voice their opinions on U.S.-Turkey relations or whatever.
Furthermore, comparing the consulate's position with the more open-mouthed Turks we've met on the street is ludicrous. Of course they didn't speak with us off the record. There is a huge difference between the private opinions of individuals and the public opinions of governments, particularly the United States. Private citizens, for all their being wonderful people, do not have a foreign policy agenda and do not worry about plausible deniability, but governments do. We never talked with members of the Turkish foreign policy community, which is a shame. But if we did, it either would have been a) on the record and the party line, or much more unlikely b) very off the record and something approaching not the party line.
I know it's fun to criticize the U.S. government. I know that unfavorably comparing the U.S. to whatever country you're currently touring is chic and hip. But this is a little ridiculous.
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