Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, given suffering since Tuesday evening, physically reappeared in public for the first time on Saturday April 29 in Istanbul, on images broadcast by television channels. The 69-year-old head of state, affected by an intestinal virus, according to his entourage, spoke for four days only by videoconference, raising questions about his state of health two weeks before the presidential election in May 14.
Mr. Erdogan, still pale, began a tour of the Teknofest air show at Istanbul’s former Ataturk airport, a show that Turkey describes as “the largest in the world” and which allows the Turkish military industry to exhibit its drones and planes.
Resuming the deliberately polemical tone he likes, the president immediately relaunched his attacks against his opponents, without explicitly mentioning his state of health. “With the outrageous statements they have made in recent days, they are revealing their hatred and their grudges,” he said to the crowd, before posing in the middle of women and children who joined him on stage. “But no matter what they try to do, they won’t get anywhere,” he continued, accusing opposition members of being “agents” of the West, bent on undermining the Turkey.
Interview interrupted
Mr. Erdogan was accompanied by the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliev, and the Prime Minister of Libya, Abdel Hamid Dbeibah, two countries to which Turkey supplies combat drones.
Determined to resume the course of his campaign and put an end to the rumours, he must go to an electoral rally in Izmir, on the west coast, according to his official program during the day. He is also expected in Ankara, the capital, on Sunday, exactly two weeks before the first round of voting, to resume the course of his electoral campaign.
He had been forced to adapt his agenda since Tuesday evening and to cancel all his planned trips, including that for the highly anticipated inauguration, Thursday, of Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, for which he had even hoped for the arrival of the president. of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin. He finally spoke by videoconference, appearing pale and drawn, sitting at a desk.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced on Tuesday evening to interrupt a live television interview. The head of state, pale in complexion, reappeared on the air a quarter of an hour later before cutting the interview short.
His main opponent in good shape in the polls
The episode fell badly for the Turkish president in the campaign, who intends to line up two or three daily meetings in the home stretch, before the holding of the double ballot, presidential and legislative. The health of the Turkish leader had already fueled speculation after a large intestine operation at the end of 2011, followed by further surgery the following year. Mr. Erdogan, then Prime Minister, had publicly denied suffering from colon cancer, explaining that the operations were aimed at removing polyps.
At the same time, his main opponent, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, chained two meetings on Friday. At the head of an alliance of six opposition parties, Mr. Kiliçdaroglu is in good shape, according to most polls. In addition, the pro-Kurdish left party HDP, Turkey’s third political force, on Friday called on its supporters to vote in favor of Mr. Kiliçdaroglu, a support likely to favor his election.
