Erdoğan also categorically denied a recent media report that National Intelligence Agency (MİT) head Hakan Fidan had prevented an assassination plot against the president as he was about to undergo surgery in a private hospital.

“This is a huge lie. I had said, ‘I will undergo a surgery in a state hospital.’ My surgery was in Pendik State Hospital [in Istanbul],” he said.

Previous media reports alleged that Fidan notified Erdoğan that the hospital where he was about to undergo surgery belonged to Gülenists, which was followed by the president changing the hospital.