Ailing Erdogan Spends Third Day Away From Campaign

Friday, April 28, makes it the third day Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has spent at home following a stomach ailment that has interrupted his campaign.

The 69-year-old leader cleared his busy schedule of public appearances after getting sick live on TV Tuesday night and now the country’s health minister has said Erdogan is suffering from gastroenteritis.

The digestive problem is easily treated and usually clears up in a few days but it has upturned Erdogan’s busy campaign schedule in the run-up to Turkey’s most important election in generations on May 14.

Meanwhile, Erdogan has been trying to compensate by attending events via video link.

Read Also: Turkey’s Erdogan Falls Ill On TV, Cancels Rallies

He and Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared jointly at a video conference on Thursday, inaugurating a nuclear power plant a Kremlin-linked company helped Turkey build on the southern coast.

Erdogan scheduled another video link with the southern city of Adana unveiling a new bridge for Friday.

Both events are the types of public launches that Erdogan had used to boost his image in the run-up to his toughest election year yet.

The events are aired live on TV and then dominate discussions in pro-government media which control much of Turkey’s airwaves and print.

Erdogan had scheduled events in five cities over two days before getting sick but the incident has created more room for national channels to air rallies by secular opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Polls show the two men probably heading to a runoff election on May 28.

But Kilicdaroglu enjoys a lead in most public opinion surveys and still hopes to secure a first-round victory.