The Turkish President is in poor health.
(Photo: dpa)
Istanbul After the cancellation of campaign appearances on Wednesday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also canceled an election campaign date planned for Thursday. Erkan Kandemir, a deputy leader of Erdogan’s ruling AKP party, announced that the 69-year-old will skip a rally in the southern city of Mersin on Thursday but will later attend a video conference to mark the commissioning of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.
Meanwhile, Turkish officials countered rumors circulating online that the head of state was seriously ill and hospitalized. “We categorically reject such unfounded claims about President Erdogan’s state of health,” tweeted his communications director Fahrettin Altun, also announcing his boss’s participation in the video conference.
Erdogan announced on Wednesday that he would cancel his campaign appearances that day and rest at home. A day earlier, a TV interview with him had been temporarily interrupted due to stomach problems.
Erdogan was being interviewed by Turkish broadcasters Ülke TV and Kanal 7 on Tuesday evening when the program suddenly stopped. When the interview resumed about 20 minutes later, Erdogan apologized for the interruption and explained that he had contracted a severe “stomach flu” during his election campaign.
The Chinese foreign television broadcaster CGTN reported shortly afterwards that Erdogan had been hospitalized. According to the report, his family was also alerted. Based on what is known so far, this is a hoax.
Exhausting election campaign in the month of fasting
Parliamentary and presidential elections will take place in Turkey on May 14th. Erdogan is seeking a third term. Polls indicate a neck-and-neck race between him and his challenger Kemal Kilicdaroglu of the CHP. The Turkish head of state has been campaigning intensively since the end of the fasting month of Ramadan last Sunday, appearing in at least two cities every day.
Today, Thursday, he first wanted to inaugurate a high-speed railway line in Yozgat, in central Anatolia, and then open Turkey’s first nuclear power plant in the south of the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin also wanted to take part in the ceremony, as the Russian state-owned company Rosatom was involved in the construction. However, when Putin announced that he would only connect online, there was a debate about whether Erdogan should be alone on the stage.
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Because the television interview was interrupted in front of the camera, there was a lot of excitement. A US media even headlined: “What happens if Recep Tayyip Erdogan dies?”
It is more likely that Erdogan actually has an upset stomach. There could be two reasons for this. One is the fact that election campaigns in Turkey are physically demanding of the candidates. It’s about showing yourself close to the people, being there – Erdogan perfected this tactic during his tenure.
Another reason is the month of fasting. During Ramadan, participants fast from sunrise to sunset, this year for around twelve hours a day. Eating is mainly done shortly after sunset and before the beginning of the morning twilight. What is used for physical and spiritual cleansing is particularly stressful for older people.
Experts expect little impact on the election
The Turkish President has had to deal with problems during the month of fasting several times. In 2017, for example, he suffered a dizzy spell during a prayer at the end of Ramadan and had to be carried out of the mosque on a stretcher. The President cited blood pressure problems as a result of diabetes as the reason for the collapse. In 2006, Erdogan, then 52 years old, passed out with acute hypoglycaemia on the way to Parliament during Ramadan.
In 2011, according to doctors, he underwent surgery to remove colon polyps. But there are also rumors that it was a malignant tumor in the stomach. In background conversations, one can see that Erdogan takes a small pill after every meal.
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Observers doubt that the state of health of the authoritarian Turkish president will have an impact on the voting behavior of the country’s citizens. Many are familiar with the physical challenges of the month of fasting and the country’s election campaign.
As of today, Thursday, Turks living abroad are allowed to vote in embassies and consulates. Almost four million people with Turkish roots live in Germany, 1.5 million are entitled to vote with a Turkish passport. In the last election in 2018, around half of them exercised their right to vote, and almost two-thirds voted for Erdogan.
With agency material.
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