'We don't have good journalists,' says Turkey's chief negotiator

The 22nd United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP22) took place last month in Marakesh.

It was the first follow-up to the 21st conference in Paris where an agreement was reached.

The followers of the Turkish press have not read much about it. Some might think this is due to the intensity of Turkey's agenda.

Mehmet Emin Birpınar, Turkey's chief negotiator for the climate change talks, might think differently.

Mr. Birpınar addressed a conference on Dec. 5 that was organized by TÜSİAD on the outcomes of COP22.

 While answering a question, he started to talk about the role of the media. "We don't have good journalists and good lawyers in Turkey. So we [the bureaucracy] do whatever we want. They don't ask questions. If we had good journalists and good lawyers, we could be at a better point."

Mr. Birpınar was appointed as chief negotiator 20 months ago. You would expect negotiators to excel in the language of diplomacy. But we are at a time where diplomatic language is looked down by the governing elites of this country; on the contrary, one has to be blunt and a bully to get what one wants. 

Look what Mr. Birpınar told his Western interlocutors to convince them why Turkey should not be considered as a developed country, which would have forced the government to agree to higher commitments to cut its greenhouse gas emissions. "You can put travel visas on us, but you can't impose visas to prevent pollution."
What basically Turkey says is this:

"When climate change talks started decades ago, I agreed to be recognized as a developed country. Forget about that. I need to grow fast and I need to use cheap and [therefore the most polluting type] of energy. If you want me to use clean energy, then...