“Plans for the assassination of Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul have been uncovered,” the Turkish Interior Minister Idris Naim Shahin said Friday.
“We were able to pre-empt the attacks which were intended to sow discord in the country,” He added.
In 2005, a suspected assassin tried to get on board the official’s vehicle with a pistol hidden inside a loaf of bread during Erdogan’s visit to north-west Turkey.
“I planned to shoot the Prime Minister; I am a nationalist and was disturbed by his words,” the suspected assassin later told police.
Also in March 2009, a suspect carrying an unlicensed weapon was arrested when he tried to pass a checkpoint at a demonstration organized by the premier’s Justice and Development Party.
The Turkish military has been the self-appointed guardian of secularism in the country since the founding of the republic in 1923 and was widely regarded as an important element of the deep state.
Erdogan has sharply curbed the military’s power during the Justice and Development Party’s decade in power.
The 58-years-old premier has frequently expressed keenness to run for president in 2014 since he cannot seek another term in office as Turkey’s prime minister.
However, the opposition has expressed disapproval of the proposal to establish a presidential system in Turkey, arguing that it would give Erdogan too much power.
PG/HGH
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/01/26/285691/seven-assassins-after-erdogan-arrested/
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