Turkey Prime Minister Erdoğan Says He Doesn’t have Cancer

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has categorically denied speculations that he has cancer during an interview with a journalist, Today’s Zaman reports.

Veteran journalist Mehmet Ali Birand, who had an interview with Erdoğan for a documentary on the Feb. 28, 1997 postmodern coup, on Thursday broadcast parts of the interview during which the two discussed issues currently dominating Turkey’s agenda. Erdoğan said no in response to a question from Birand asking, “Do you have cancer?”

Erdoğan, 57, underwent abdominal surgery on Nov. 26 and had rested out of the public eye for more than a month after the operation. Speculation emerged after the operation that the prime minister had cancer but was keeping it secret.

Professor Mehmet Füzün, who was among the doctors who performed laparoscopic surgery on Erdoğan, also dismissed claims of cancer last month, saying polyps had been found in Erdoğan’s intestinal tract and that they were not malignant. “I was also present during the surgery as an expert on colon and rectal surgery. The intestinal polyps we removed during the operation were big, but not malignant,” he said.

Birand, who has recently been treated for cancer, said he knows well whether a person is receiving chemotherapy or not as someone who has gone through such an experience. “I looked and understood. He is not receiving chemotherapy,” Birand said.