Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has cancelled his planned appearances due to a stomach bug less than three weeks before the country’s important election. He had three appearances in the central Anatolian provinces planned for Wednesday, but Vice President Fuat Oktay will take his place instead. Erdogan has been campaigning to reverse a dip in polls and extend his two-decade election-winning streak. He is running neck-and-neck with secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu and must contend with the dual blows of a raging economic crisis and the impact of a massive February earthquake that claimed more than 50,000 lives.
Erdogan cut short a live television interview late on Tuesday after getting sick on air. His television appearance on Tuesday began more than 90 minutes behind schedule and then went to a commercial break in the middle of a question 10 minutes into the show. Erdogan returned about 15 minutes later to apologise for getting sick. Erdogan had gastrointestinal in surgery in 2012 but has otherwise enjoyed robust health.
Turkey’s 74-year-old opposition leader Kilicdaroglu was among the first of many politicians to wish Erdogan a swift recovery on Tuesday. Nationalist leader Meral Aksener and other top members of Kilicdaroglu’s six-party opposition alliance also tweeted their support.
