Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan abruptly interrupted a live television interview on Tuesday before returning and apologising, citing a stomach bug as the reason for his sudden departure.
The 69-year-old leader had given three campaign speeches earlier in the day, leading up to a closely contested parliamentary and presidential election scheduled for May 14th.
Erdogan was scheduled to end the day with a joint interview on Ulke TV and Kanal 7, which began more than 90 minutes behind schedule. However, ten minutes into the interview, the broadcast abruptly cut off mid-question, causing the camera to shake and the reporter to stand up from his chair. An off-camera voice could be heard saying, “Oh wow.”
About 15 minutes later, Erdogan returned to the interview to apologise for his sudden departure, saying, “Yesterday and today were hard work. That’s why I got a stomach flu.”
The president appeared tired and his eyes seemed to water as he spoke. After answering a few more questions, he ended the broadcast.
Erdogan and his Islamic-rooted party have held a dominant position in Turkish politics for the past two decades, but the upcoming election poses a significant challenge to his rule. Polls indicate that he is running neck-and-neck with opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu or could potentially lose the election.
Kilicdaroglu expressed his well wishes towards Erdogan, tweeting shortly after the incident aired, “I convey my best wishes to Mr. Erdogan.”
The upcoming election poses a significant challenge to Erdogan’s two-decade-long rule, with polls indicating that he could potentially lose to opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.
