Turkey introduces major overhaul at foreign ministry

Turkey's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is restructuring itself with a draft law that contains recommendations for changes in duties and foundation of the ministry organization.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu along with high level diplomats held an evaluation meeting of the Ambassadors Conference in the south eastern province of Mardin.

The Foreign Minister briefed recently introduced "bureaucratic drive" which stipulates assignment of diplomats both abroad and border provinces.

The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs will spread its activities to various Turkish provinces, Davutoglu said.

Under the move, diplomats will serve for a while in Provincial Governor's Offices to familiarize with the neighboring country they are assigned to.

The Foreign Ministry also plans to increase staff capacity in line with the active foreign policy.

In a statement made on Sunday, Davutoglu said that they would diversify the human resources of the Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs without shaking the strong traditions of the ministry.

The bill aims at the ministry having the structure complied with the conditions of the current century, strengthening personnel in terms of quantity and quality, diversifying the pool of human resources.

Here are the changes that the bill is expected to bring:

-The Ministry will increase the number of both administrative and professional staff,

-The new name of administrative office will be "consular, protocol and administrative work office". Also the new law will pave the way for administrative staff to be appointed as "Consul General".

-A "public diplomacy secretariat" will be established within the ministry, in order to to institutionalize public diplomacy,

-The center, that was formed to train ministry staff, will be converted into an "academy".

-Foreign language education system will be changed so that the officials can speak the local languages of the country assigned,

-The system of employing and promoting staff will be changed,

-Professional staff will be able to get promotion, based on their performance, not in order of age, so they can be appointed as ambassador within the framework of success in the younger age.

/World Bulletin/