The conduct of recalled Ambassador to Turkey Dusan Spasojevic, his efforts to present himself as a victim, and turn a recall of an ambassador into a scandal and campaign aimed at discrediting Serbian foreign policy and its Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) - which was accepted readily and without any valid argumentation by a small segment of domestic political public – are a good reason to recall that diplomacy is primarily a demanding and a complex profession and civil service, which has clear and strict rules developed in centuries-long practices of diplomatic communication among states.

According to these rules, the basic duty of an ambassador is to duly represent his country and act according to the instructions of the minister of foreign affairs and the highest state authorities. These authorities have the sovereign right to decide whether someone is acting appropriately or not, and their decisions, including the one to recall a state representative, are not to be discussed in the media from abroad, nor may personal frustrations be expressed in any way harmful to the reputation of the state.

The behaviour of Mr. Spasojevic and predominantly his statements regarding the internal situation in the state to which he had been accredited, as well as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, his self promotion and praise of his own work and merits, gross violation of the regulations of and instructions by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs – are all best testimony of the fact that his work so far had been correctly evaluated by the MFA and Serbian state leadership, resulting in his recall.

In this context, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs wishes to underline that one of the major objectives of its leadership is to re-establish a highly professional and responsible diplomatic/consular services operating in the best interest of our people and Serbia as a state, where there will be no room for politicking or abuse of state institutions for purposes of self promotion.