Tayyip Erdogan breaks silence over intelligence report of his assassination attempt
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ANKARA - Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan has received information about preparation for an assassination attempt on him and said that this will not affect 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 path and will continue on it. Is it right, on my part, when thousands of people have come here to meet and communicate with the president, that they would not be able to do this? No, this will not work," the president stated at a press conference in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Earlier, the TRT channel, citing sources in the security forces, said that the intelligence services of Turkey and the Balkan countries are working in coordination to investigate allegations that a group of people of Turkish origin in the Balkans allegedly is plotting to assassinate Erdogan.
[image: Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan gestures as he talks during the closing news conference following the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation's Extraordinary Summit in Istanbul, Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017] © AP PHOTO / EMRAH GU The information about the upcoming attempt to kill the Turkish president appeared in the media on the eve of his one-day working visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which takes place on May 20. The report noted that the local intelligence service has received this information from Turks living in the Macedonian capital Skopje, and was then transferred to Turkish intelligence. The details concerning the alleged time, place and method of the assassination attempt are not available.
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.
