Turkish police probing Twitter posts which suggest that Erdogan died

Turkish police are investigating dozens of social media users for allegedly spreading a rumour that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has died, local media reports.

According to the report, a video was uploaded to Twitter to put an end to the rumours, showing Erdogan arriving in Ankara with his wife on a flight from Istanbul.

Police said on Wednesday that “manipulative” messages were posted under the Twitter hashtag #olmus, which means “has apparently died” in Turkish, according to a written statement. Thirty people suspected of posting “lies” have been referred to the judiciary for investigation, the statement said.

An adviser to Erdogan’s AKP party, Yasin Aktay, denied the reports saying: “The news is inaccurate.”

Earlier in the week, Erdogan cancelled plans to attend the global climate conference in Glasgow because Britain failed to meet Turkey’s demands on security arrangements, Turkish media quoted him as saying.

READ: Erdogan skips Glasgow climate summit in security dispute