Erdogan's meals tested for poison amid security fears

Every meal that goes before the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is rigorously tested both at home and abroad for fear of assassination, his personal doctor said.

And now a special food analysis laboratory will be built at Erdogan’s controversial presidential palace to make sure all his food is safe to eat, Cevdet Erdol told the Hurriyet newspaper on Tuesday.

“It’s usually not through bullets that prominent figures are being assassinated these days,” Erdol said.

Currently, samples of the president’s food are analysed in laboratories in both Ankara and Istanbul and during his visits abroad, he said.
Erdogan’s opponents accuse him of increasing megalomania, and the authorities of setting up a cult of personality around the man who has ruled Turkey either as president or prime minister since 2003.

Erdogan’s 1,150-room palace, which opened last year on the outskirts of Ankara, has been condemned by critics as an absurd extravagance that shows he is slipping further towards authoritarian rule.

Erdol said a fully equipped lab will soon be built at the grandiose complex, where every dish will be inspected by medically qualified professionals. There is also a five-member emergency team on duty at the heavily guarded palace 24 hours a day, analysing everything he eats and drink to guard against radiation, chemical materials and bacteria.

“Fortunately, we have not had any serious incidents so far,” Erdol said, adding that the food was bought only from trusted sources.