Richard Moore (@ChiefMI6), Chief of the UK’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), was horrified by the October 23 terror attack on Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI/TUSAS), a government-run stealth drone maker in the Turkish capital Ankara. Moore responded to the attack with a Turkish-language tweet.

“I worked in close partnership with TAI throughout my time as [British] ambassador [to Ankara],” he noted.

Tweet: @ChiefMI6 offered his condolences to the families of the martyrs who lost their lives in the attack and wished a speedy recovery to the injured.

Moore, who served as Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II’s Ambassador to Ankara between 2014 and 2017, is a popular figure in Turkey.

He is a fluent speaker of the Turkish language and very active on social media.

Of course, in June last year, Richard Moore was recognised in the King's Birthday Honours, becoming Sir Richard Moore. Belated congratulations are in order.

A spymaster, particularly one as popular as Moore, will have anticipated some interaction when writing about a terror attack on social media.

Tweet: In Turkey, there has long been a healthy interest in what kind of business Moore entered into with the Erdogan regime.

Tweet: This reference to Don Vito Corleone plays on the Godfather's observation that the perpetrator is usually among the first to extend their condolences.

Tweets: The Treaty of Sevres was signed in 1920 by some of the Allies of World War I and the Ottoman Empire. The Sevres Syndrome refers to a popular belief that spread in a traumatised Turkey that dangerous internal and external enemies, especially the West, were conspiring to weaken and carve up the nation. Many still believe it today.

Tweets: The clear expectation is that a spymaster will prevent terror attacks on his "close partners" rather than finding himself in the position of having to extend condolences after they occur.

Tweet: Thomas Edward Lawrence, or Lawrence of Arabia, is known for his role in the Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in World War I.

Tweets: Laz Ziya is the Turkish version of Don Vito Corleone.