The CIA takes a Turkish initiative

Turkey's increasing regional power, spanning from the economy to the nation's foreign policy, is being reflected in the rising use of the Turkish language in the international arena. While global firms are increasingly adding the Turkish language as an option on their internet websites, a number of universities from India to the United States have also been establishing special departments devoted to the Turkish language. The most recent example of the Turkish language's growing global significance came from the world's biggest intelligence agency, the CIA. America's Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) has now released a Turkish version of their official website, marking the first time a global intelligence agency has added Turkish to the official language options offered on their websites.

The CIA's internet website offers abridged versions in eight languages, including, Turkish, Spanish, Arabic, Chinese, Russian and French. According to Mehmet Eymür, who formally led the counter-terrorism department of the Turkish National Intelligence Organization (MİT) and is well-familiar with the CIA, the preference of Turkish over other widely spoken languages such as German, Italian and Japanese, all which have a strong population potential and lobby in the states, is parallel to Turkey's rising power. "One of the reasons behind their choice to use Turkish is an effort geared towards Central Asian states formally included in the Soviet Union," stated Eymür.

CIA's interest in the Turkish language peaked following September 11th and the Second Gulf War. In 2009, the CIA went on a hunt down for Turkish and Kurdish language speaking staff, offering annual salaries of up to $ 75,000. Former CIA Director David Petraeus, who stepped down last year, is also well-versed in Turkish.

This is a translation of an article originally written by Kerim Ülker.