Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday interrupted a live television interview before returning to apologise, saying he is suffering from a stomach bug.
The 69-year-old leader delivered three election speeches yesterday, in the run up to the presidential and legislative elections on 14 May.
Erdogan was scheduled to end the evening with a live joint interview with Ulke TV and Kanal 7 channels. He started his television appearance more than 90 minutes later than scheduled and then interrupted it ten minutes in.
Erdogan returned 15 minutes later and apologised, saying he had fallen ill.
“Yesterday and today were hard work. That’s why I got a stomach flu. At one point, I wondered if it would be misunderstood if we cancelled the programme. But we promised. I ask for your and our audience’s forgiveness.”
Erdogan’s face looked tired and his eyes watered during his speech. The Turkish leader answered a few more questions before the interview ended.
Erdogan and the Justice and Development Party have dominated Turkish politics for 20 years, but the current election campaign is one of the biggest challenges the president has faced, as opinion polls show that the competition will be intense between him and Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
“My best wishes to Mr Erdogan,” Kilicdaroglu tweeted moments after the interview was aired.
Erdogan has since cancelled appearance for today as a result of the stomach bug.
Montather Rassoul