ANKARA, May 20 – Intelligence services of Turkey and Balkan states are jointly working to investigate reports about prepared attack on Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the TRT broadcaster reported citing a source in the intelligence services.
The information on the possible attack emerged on the threshold of Erdogan’s visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina scheduled for Sunday. The data were obtained by Macedonian intelligence services from the Turks living in the country and transferred to the Turkish intelligence.
“We know that there are some circles that are concerned over the fact that we have such a strong leader, that is why they want to kill him. There are permanent reports about planned attacks on him. Our President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is not a person who will be afraid of the threats and will change his policy. Those, who have not understood that yet, are fools,” Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Bekir Bozdag wrote on his Twitter page.
Erdogan became Turkish president in 2014 after having served 11 years as the country’s prime minister. The next presidential election in Turkey is scheduled for June with Erdogan running for the second term.
Earlier in the year, Turkey’s National Intelligence Organization officers with Kosovo’s intelligence service have detained 6 senior alleged members of the Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen's movement, which is accused by Ankara of being behind the 2016 failed coup attempt in the country.