Special to WorldTribune.com

ANKARA — Turkey has assigned elite security units to prevent the
assassination of its political leadership.

The government of Prime Minister Recep Erdogan has intensified efforts
to foil what officials said were plots to kill senior members of the
pro-Islamist civilian leadership.

They said the Turkish intelligence community has been alerted to a range of plots, including one to poison Erdogan and his foreign minister, Ahmet Davutoglu.

“Our staff should be sensitive to chemical and biological weapons, as
well as poisoning materials, since they can also be used in assassinations,”
Fatih Inal, a Turkish security trainer, said.

Inal has been leading training of VIP protection at the General
Directorate of Security. He said bodyguards for Erdogan and senior ministers were on alert for poisoning attempts.

“Bodyguards need to be experts in guns, explosives and human
psychology,” Inal told Turkey’s semi-official Anatolia News Agency. “We are training them in those areas. There is also the issue of the use of
poisoning as an assassination tool. This was already a subject in our
training courses, but we have further intensified our focus.”

Officials said VIP security increased in wake of the arrest of nearly
500 current and former military and police officers suspected of trying to
overthrow Erdogan. They said the military and elements within the security
forces were believed involved in killing previous Turkish leaders,
particularly President Turgut Ozal who died of a heart attack in 1993 at 65.

Still, the Forensic Medicine Institute determined in an autopsy in
December 2012 that Ozal was not poisoned. The government, said to
have strong influence on justice system, plans to continue the investigation
into Ozal’s death.

  Ahmet Davutoglu, General Directorate of Security, Recep Erdogan, Turgut Ozal, Turkey intel fears plots against Islamist government leaders