ISTANBUL: Turkish security forces thwarted an attempted bombing attack at a rally of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the eastern city of Siirt, the state-owned Anadolu news agency reported on late Saturday.
According to details, a remote-controlled explosive device was attached to a police car securing the rally, but was spotted and neutralized by two officers before it was activated. No suspects have been apprehended so far, local media reported.
The device was reportedly discovered in the small city of Nusaybin, on the Syrian border, from which the officer had been due to drive 200 km (125 miles) northeast to Siirt, where Erdogan later addressed an outdoor audience.
The car was parked at the officer’s home in Nusaybin. Hamza Dag, deputy chair of Erdogan’s ruling AK Party, said police had delayed releasing the information to avoid a public backlash.
Erdogan’s speech at the rally focused mostly on the economic situation in the country. He told the audience that he hoped that volatile foreign-exchange and inflation rates would stabilize shortly and he again promised low interest rates, after a historic plunge in the lira currency to record lows.
The lira shed some 30% over the last month in a selloff driven by aggressive interest rate cuts that Erdogan sought, but that economists and opposition politicians say are reckless in part due to soaring inflation. “God willing we will stabilize all fluctuations in prices and forex rates in not such a long time,” Erdogan said.
“Tayyip Erdogan said low interest rates yesterday, says low interest rates today and will say low interest rates tomorrow,” the president said, adding, “I will never compromise on this because interest rates are a malady that make the rich even richer, and the poor even poorer.”
