The intestines of the Turkish president are playing tricks on him. Candidate for re-election, Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced to cancel several public engagements on Wednesday and Thursday, tortured by stomach flu. A virus that disrupts the presidential campaign at the worst time when the vote is scheduled for May 14. In 2011, he had already undergone large intestine surgery, which fueled speculation about his health.
Program disrupted
No speech, no inauguration. While the head of state had hoped to be able to return to the field on Thursday, he was forced into forced rest. His busy schedule and the frenetic pace of his travels are deeply disrupted. Starting with the visit of two regions of central Anatolia where he was to speak. “I’m going to rest at home today on the advice of the doctors. Unfortunately, we will not be able to meet with our brothers from Kirikkale, Yozgat and Sivas today. I apologize to all,” he tweeted.
The head of state, who has been in power for twenty years, was also to give up on Thursday to inaugurate the country’s first nuclear power plant in Akkuyu, on the southern coast of Turkey, announced the vice-president of the ruling AKP party, Erkan Kandemir. But he finally appeared at the inauguration of the plant. On the images, broadcast by Turkish television, Erdogan appears with drawn features, to listen to a message by videoconference from Vladimir Putin.
It all started on Tuesday evening when he had to interrupt a live interview on the television. After about fifteen minutes, he returned to the antenna, pale complexion and red eyes, apologizing for having been ill. “Yesterday and today there was a lot of work. Because of that I caught a stomach flu”, he had justified. “At one point, I wondered if it would be bad if we canceled the show. But we promised. I apologize to you and to your viewers, ”he added, with drawn features.
A frantic pace
The head of state had delivered three campaign speeches in a day before the show, less than 20 days before the presidential and legislative elections that the polls announce as hotly contested. The president, whose approach is sometimes slowed down, aligns two to three daily meetings for his campaign and during Ramadan he also shared an iftar every evening – the meal for breaking the fast – in a different locality. He had planned to maintain a high pace of meetings across the country in the home stretch before the double ballot on May 14 for which all the polling institutes are announcing a tight score.
Support from rivals
His main rival, Kemal Kiliçdaroglu, 74, candidate of the National Alliance which brings together six opposition parties, immediately wished a “good recovery” to the head of state. Wednesday evening during a television interview, he reiterated his vows: “We belong to the same nation. As soon as I knew I wished him a good recovery via Twitter.
Several other leaders of the Alliance sent their wishes of recovery to the Turkish president. “I hope that Mr. Erdogan recovers soon and wishes him a speedy recovery,” tweeted Meral Aksener, president of the Good Party, the second largest party in the opposition coalition.
Cancer rumors
The Turkish leader’s health had fueled speculation after a large intestine operation at the end of 2011, followed by further surgery the following year. Erdogan, then Prime Minister, had publicly denied suffering from colon cancer, explaining that the operations were aimed at removing polyps.