Betty Carp

Bertha "Betty" Carp (June 15, 1895 – June 12, 1974) was an American embassy official and intelligence agent, called "The Best Known American in Turkey". She was educated at schools in Turkey, London, and Vienna.

Career Carp worked at the American embassies in Istanbul and Ankara for most of her life. She was hired by ambassador Henry Morgenthau in 1914 as a messenger, typist and telephone operator. She became an interpreter, attaché, consul, and political officer. She received the State Department's Superior Honor Award at her retirement in 1964 from Secretary of State Dean Rusk, who called her a "living legend" and noted that she "is to be commended for her sociological reports, especially on religious, minority, educational, and legal matters". She was "confidant to two dozen ambassadors and their wives" and "knew all the policemen and the shopkeepers and the crippled children of Beyoglu." where she compiled biographical profiles of Balkan leaders using her language skills and wide network of diplomatic contacts. She was also active in fundraising for the American Hospital in Istanbul. and her physique and demeanor were described as "matronly"; she used her nonthreatening appearance to advantage when making contacts and gathering intelligence. She became a United States citizen in 1947. She died in Istanbul in 1974, a few days before her 79th birthday. A biography of Carp based on her correspondence and other sources, The Best Known American in Turkey by Rifat N. Bali, was published in Turkish in 2014.