Turkish PM scolds Olympic security personnel
From online dispatches
Erdoğan had his photo taken with the women's national basketball team after the game. AA photo
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan called a member of the London Games security personnel “insolent” after he was barred from meeting Turkish journalists after an event yesterday.Erdoğan and his spouse Emine Erdoğan watched the Turkey-Angola basketball match yesterday, where Turkish players defeated their opponents 72-50. The couple visited the players’ locker room following the game to congratulate the national team players in person, daily Akşam reported today. After leaving the locker room the prime minister wished to speak to Turkish reporters whom had been following him at a close distance. However, an Olympic Games’ security guard stopped Erdoğan and his entourage from leaving the VIP area to meet with journalists.
An encounter ensured between Erdoğan's bodyguards and Olympic security personnel, after which the prime minister reportedly said, “What an insolent man you are,” in Turkish to the Olympic security personnel who had not let them pass.
Turkish reporters, meanwhile, were reportedly facing a similar problem as they tried to reach Erdoğan for an interview. Deniz Gökçe of daily Akşam called to Erdoğan, “Mr. Prime Minister, could you come over here? They are not letting us through,” at which Erdoğan replied, “They are not letting me pass either.”
Olympic security eventually allowed Erdoğan to pass and speak to media members after Turkish officials intervened.
