The ambassadors of Turkey all over the world have gathered in Ankara for a series of meetings that will fill them in on the policies of the Recep Tayyip Erdoğan administration, the efforts of the government and how Turkey will tackle the multiple challenges it faces in 2017.

This is the first gathering of our ambassadors since the bloody July 15 coup attempt by the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

Since then Turkey has faced a bundle of challenges with an ongoing campaign of violence by a coalition of terrorist organizations while those who staged the unsuccessful coup have been active in hitting Turkey economically and trying to destabilize it by creating an image of continuous chaos.

FETÖ in Turkey has been smashed to a large extent but its organization around the world is quite intact and still functioning against Turkey, which poses a major challenge to the Turkish ambassadors serving in various capitals.

So they face added pressures and challenges abroad compared to what we suffer here in Turkey.

This means they have to be armed with all kinds of resources to cope with the FETÖ danger. This means financial resources as well as human resources.

The meetings in Ankara will give the ambassadors information as ammunition to be used against FETÖ and how to counter its propaganda in various world capitals. However, the information campaign has to be supplemented with financial resources and beyond that qualified staff that can handle the fight against the Gülenists.

The disinformation campaign against Turkey has been widespread throughout the globe but with special emphasis on Europe and the United States. That is why our ambassadors in these countries have faced hard times trying to enlist the cooperation of local officials against FETÖ.

Turkey is now involved in an all-out war against those who were behind the coup and those who are continuing to act to destabilize our country. President Erdoğan has called on the nation to mobilize its resources to counter this massive challenge, which means ambassadors abroad have to put in extra effort. This means ambassadors have to grasp the views and ideals of President Erdoğan, who attaches importance to the establishment of a just system throughout the world where the rich tend to the needs of the poor and the mighty help the oppressed. While some ambassadors grasp the need to promote these views enthusiastically, there are some who are not so eager to rally for the president and his views. They seem to represent the old guard at the Foreign Ministry who prefer a much more cautious approach to international issues.

Turkey now follows a dynamic foreign policy that puts the interests of the Turkish people above all other interests. If these correspond to the interests of Western countries, that is good, but if it does not then we will not change our course to appease them.

Erdoğan has said we need to follow an active foreign policy where we will not wait for anyone to slap us in the face and we will launch preemptive strikes to defend ourselves. This is what the ambassadors have to understand and put into practice as they serve the country abroad.