ANKARA – Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has received information aboutpreparation for an assassination attempt on him and said that this will notaffect his visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.
Commenting on a media report that an assassination plot had been prepared,Erdogan said that “this news reached me and indeed that is why I am here.”
“Such threats and operations cannot deter us. We have taken our own pathand will continue on it. Is it right, on my part, when thousands of peoplehave come here to meet and communicate with the president, that they wouldnot be able to do this? No, this will not work,” the president stated at apress conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Earlier, the TRT channel, citing sources in the security forces, said thatthe intelligence services of Turkey and the Balkan countries are workingin coordination to investigate allegations that a group of peopleof Turkish origin in the Balkans allegedly is plotting to assassinateErdogan.
[image: Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he talks duringthe closing news conference following the Organisation of IslamicCooperation’s Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017]© AP PHOTO / EMRAH GUThe information about the upcoming attempt to kill the Turkish presidentappeared in the media on the eve of his one-day working visit to Bosnia andHerzegovina, which takes place on May 20. The report noted that the localintelligence service has received this information from Turks living in theMacedonian capital Skopje, and was then transferred to Turkishintelligence. The details concerning the alleged time, place and methodof the assassination attempt are not available.
Erdogan became Turkish president in 2014 after having served 11 yearsas the country’s prime minister. The next presidential election in Turkeyis scheduled for June, with Erdogan running for the second term.