Erdogan did not meet opposition party member: official

ANKARA

The communications director of the Turkish presidency denied claims Thursday that the president held talks with an opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) politician at the presidential complex.

"The claim that Turkish President -- Recep Tayyip Erdogan -- met with a CHP politician and they discussed future leadership of CHP is completely unrealistic and imaginary," Fahrettin Altun said in a statement.

Altun stressed that during his nearly 43 years of political life, the Turkish president has never taken steps to "design a political party" or "interfere in its internal affairs".

We follow the statements by some politicians who try to poison the political climate with unrealistic claims with deep concern, he said.

He expressed hope that they would give up this policy which wants to protect their own political calculations and interests.

The baseless claims on the alleged meeting was raised in an opinion column in a Turkish newspaper Wednesday and has caused intense debate in Turkish media.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz