bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 3 (1995) — Fall 1995 // Automne 1995, p. 52
JUST A DIPLOMAT by Zeki Kuneralp.
The Isis Press, Istanbul, 1992, $28.00 US.
Reviewed by Benjamin Rogers
At a reception in Buckingham Palace the Duke of Edinburgh asked the Turkish Ambassador if he had ever been anything other than a diplomat. “No, Your Royal Highness”, replied Zeki Kuneralp, “I’ve done nothing else, I’ve just been a diplomat”. Hence the title of his memoirs. The original Turkish version was published in 1981. Geoffrey Lewis’s polished English translation was published in 1992.
After the murder of his father, who, instead of supporting Ataturk, had favoured working with the victorious allies after World War I, Kuneralp and his mother lived in exile, mainly in Switzerland, where he received most of his education. He returned to Turkey in 1938, did his military service, and entered the Foreign Service in 1941. He had a brilliant career, in which he served as Ambassador to Switzerland, twice as Ambassador to Britain, twice as Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and, in failing health, as Ambassador to Spain. A year before his retirement in 1978 his wife and her brother were assassinated in Madrid by Armenian terrorists. He resides in Istanbul.
Just a Diplomat is a superb book of diplomatic memoirs, in which the author reveals himself as a modest, highly civilized and very wise man. He gives a fascinating account of his distinguished career, replete with amusing anecdotes, astute comments on Turkish foreign policy and the affairs of the countries in which he served, on the role of a diplomat, and even on the organization of a ministry of foreign affairs and a foreign service.
A few examples give the flavour of the work.
The author tells of a tailor in Berne who called the police to tell them of a suspicious character claiming to be the Turkish Ambassador who had just ordered a suit, speaking perfect schweitzer deutsch.
He recalls that, when his wife was having a baby in Prague, the friend who never left her side was the wife of the Greek First Secretary, and comments:
“This is not to be wondered at; that is how we Turks and Greeks are. As individuals we love and embrace one another; as nations we quarrel and fight…. How sad that in our mutual relations the artificial many a time prevails, inhibiting the natural inclinations.”
At another point he recalls that as a senior official he had been intimately involved in foreign policy, but had never inspired it, adding:
“A country’s policy runs on rails. These rails are laid by national character, geographical situation and the state of the world. The duty of the people in government is to stop the policy from coming off the rails, that’s all.”
At the end of the book Kuneralp tells of a lecture that he had given in Madrid on Turkey’s current problems and past feats, successes and failures. He had concluded by saying: “No es fácil ser turco”. Then he adds: “Yes, it is no easy thing to be a Turk, but is not the privilege of being one all the greater for that?”
Just a Diplomat (paper-back only) may be obtained by sending a money order for $28.00 US to The Isis Press, Semsibey Sok. 10, Beylerbeyi, 81210 Istanbul, Turkey. The publishers say that parcels sent by book post take four to six weeks to reach North America.
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Originally published in bout de papier, Vol. 12, No. 3 (1995) — Fall 1995 // Automne 1995, p. 52. Read the rest of this issue →
