Welcome to American-Style “Hakara Makara”

He is the president of Turkey, a nation with one of the world’s youngest and most highly-educated populations. Yet he strives for the norms of an older world by insisting that Turkey “manufacture a domestic car brand.” But for the tools of the new world, he says they are making “hakara makara” [nonsense].* The American government has launched a Twitter feed in 11 different languages. They added Turkish in the past week. I met with Deputy Assistant Secretary of State [for Digital Strategy] Victoria Esser, the brains behind the project. Have a read. … Is it “hakara makara?” You decide!

Imagine you work in marketing and your brand has an image problem. Some mistakes have caused it to hit rock bottom. What do you do? You could try a few things: For one, you could produce a new product and head back to familiar markets with it. You could also change the packaging, toy with the buyers’ perceptions. Or you could start fresh, using an advertising campaign to create a new face for your brand.

This last option is what America is pursuing all of a sudden. It is trying to get close to Turkey. It is trying to rapidly change its packaging as a dictator in the Middle East. Like it or not, Obama is using anything to try to fix what went wrong. And the new concept of “digital diplomacy” is being used as the most crucial piece of this restored image.

At the turn of 2012, Americans launched Twitter feeds in 11 different languages including Turkish, Chinese and Farsi. This doctrine of digital diplomacy was created by an expert from the private sector: Victoria Esser. Esser has been at the State Department for four months as a deputy assistant secretary. She left a six-digit salary and now works in a small office on the sixth floor of the State Department’s old building in Foggy Bottom.

When I met with Esser in her office, I went right to the topic of Turkey: “Why does the American government feel the need to communicate with the Turkish people?” I asked. I understood from her first response that she had already adapted to being a public official: “This is a sign of Turkey’s importance for us,” she said.** Then she explained that there were basically three reasons for broadcasting in a foreign language: 1) to bypass traditional diplomatic routes and reach a wider audience, 2) to develop relationships directly with societies without a government as a mediator, 3) to further a dialogue with certain populations.

As She Wrote in Politico …

Rather unclear, isn’t it? Well, let me explain. … Before Esser joined the government, way back in the beginning of 2009, she wrote about a business formula in Politico: “Is social media diplomatic window dressing or can the U.S. Twitter its way into the hearts and minds of other countries? While the answer is somewhere in between, the U.S. cannot afford to wait while these channels are perfected in order to direct them in service of President Barack Obama’s priority of renewing America’s global leadership.”

Communication Means Taking Risks

Opening a Facebook page or creating a virtual embassy doesn’t just create a direct relationship with Iranians. A fundamental piece of the project is to collect questions from all over the world every Friday. She said that State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland would be responsible for the global forum in 11 languages. “Who will choose the questions?” I asked. “State Department officials will choose the questions, but rest assured that frequently asked questions will be answered,” she replied. “They will be chosen even if they have a critical tone.”

Risk. Esser, in her article in Politico, said this while discussing real communication: “It is necessary to take risks in order to be successful at creating a society at the global level. It means putting criticisms of the U.S. on the table.” When it comes to criticism of America, the State Department is probably the most innocent agency. It is full of freedom-defending liberals. But there is also the Pentagon, which wants to radar, go everywhere, solve everything behind closed doors. There are also the intelligence officials, who do God-knows-what. “You are the good guys in this game. When you give your responses, can you represent everyone in America?” I asked. “We can give a reply to any answer that comes our way,” she said.

The Example of Zimbabwe

“Okay, while you’re doing this, how will you manage your relations with countries? How will diplomacy with governments be affected?” I asked. She gave a single example to demonstrate the importance of digital diplomacy: “In our embassy in Zimbabwe, Ambassador Charles Ray, who is nearly 70 years old, has established his relationship with the people through Twitter. The media there is so tightly controlled that it is impossible to use. People can’t believe that Ray writes those tweets. But he has no other choice, so he’s not giving up.”

Is the old way finished? Of course not. Traditional diplomacy is here to stay. But as the “hakara makara” that Esser has started at the State Department shows, just as you no longer feel the need for journalists or broadcasters to get your opinion out there, so do foreign governments no longer need intermediaries to reach you.

Two weeks ago, I spoke with an Iraqi journalist who had just come from Beirut. “Very interesting,” he said “Views about Erdoğan have changed very rapidly in the region. The popularity he enjoyed in October faded by January.” I hope Erdoğan realizes quickly, for his sake, that it’s not just “hakara makara.”

*Translator’s note: “Hakara makara” basically means “nonsense.” It has only been added to the Turkish language in the last month by Prime Minister Erdoğan, who has used it to criticize the activities on Twitter. The social media in Turkey has thus turned it on Erdoğan and used it to mock him.

*Translator’s and editor’s note: Quotes that author Tolga Tanış attributes to Victoria Esser, accurately translated, could not be verified.