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Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan revealed for the first time that he was the target of an assassination attempt involving arsenic and mercury poisoning four to five years ago.
Speaking during a live broadcast on 24 TV, Fidan said, “I was given high doses of arsenic and mercury. It happened somewhere, and was later detected in tests.”
Fidan, who served as the head of Türkiye’s National Intelligence Organization (MIT) from 2010 to 2023, made the disclosure in response to questions from journalist Murat Cicek. He recalled that he and his family have been subjected to years of smear campaigns led by what he described as proxies for terrorist groups and organized crime networks.
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“In today’s world, threats are more often carried out as character assassinations rather than physical ones,” Fidan said. “There have always been efforts to discredit us in the eyes of the public.”
He condemned opposition parties for allegedly repeating narratives created by terrorist organizations and criminal syndicates, calling it “the lowest point politics has reached.”
While discussing his experience, Fidan confirmed that he had indeed been physically targeted in addition to enduring a decade of public defamation.
“I was poisoned and received treatment,” he said. “Beyond that, I’ve been constantly subjected to character assassination. It’s part of this struggle.”
Fidan said the poisoning incident occurred four or five years ago and was only discovered through medical testing. “I was given heavy arsenic and mercury. It happened somewhere, and was only detected through tests,” he repeated.
When asked who was behind the assassination attempt, Fidan declined to name individuals or groups. “Let’s not get into those details,” he said. “This goes beyond domestic threats. Enemies are everywhere.”
He concluded with a firm message of resilience: “These attempts won’t stop me. We are here to serve this homeland. They will attempt both character and physical assassinations — it’s part of the duty.”
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