Turkish PM 'refuses to wear bulletproof vest' on domestic visits

Prime Minister Ahmet Davuto?lu has said he does not wear a bulletproof vest during trips around Turkey, stressing that he visited the southeastern province of Diyarbak?r last week without a security vest just one day after seven police officers were killed and dozens were wounded in a bomb attack blamed on militants of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"We are fighting terrorism while being surrounded by a ring of fire," Davuto?lu said on April 4, delivering a speech at the police academy in Ankara.

He also recalled his August 2015 visit to the southeastern province of ?anl?urfa's Ceylanp?nar district, during which he visited a police station shortly after two of the station's police officers were found shot dead at their shared home, with the PKK claiming responsibility.

"When we went back then, they asked on the streets: 'I wonder if the prime minister or his spouse is wearing a steel vest?' In Diyarbak?r people asked the same. But if the prime minister wears a steel vest, and the people can feel that vest when we embrace each other, how can the people of Diyarbak?r feel themselves confident?" Davuto?lu said, speaking at a ceremony on the occasion of the 171st anniversary of the foundation of the national police forces.

"Rest assured, the prime minister's life is no more precious than the life of our police officer, our soldier, our gendarmerie officer, or any of our citizens," he said.

"I refused to wear a steel vest so the people of Diyarbak?r would feel my heart when I embraced them," Davuto?lu added.
The prime minister said he ordered that no such measures would be taken on any of his travels inside the country.

While in the restive southeastern city of Diyarbak?r on April 1, Davuto?lu...