ANKARA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th April, 2023) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will attend the opening ceremony of a bridge in the southern city of Adana on Friday via videolink, following reports about him falling ill with stomach flu, the state-run Anadolu news agency reported.
Erdogan is planning to join the ceremony at around 5:00 p.m. local time (14:00 GMT) from the presidential residence after he canceled several election campaign events on doctors' advice. Meanwhile, the country's vice president, Fuat Oktay, will meet the public in person, the report said.
On Tuesday, Erdogan interrupted a live interview as he felt poorly. Following a long break, the Turkish president returned on air and said that he had caught stomach flu. The next day, he had to cancel several election campaign events on doctors' advice. Following the shortened interview, some media reported Erdogan had suffered a heart attack, but the president's office dismissed the reports. A source in Erdogan's office told Sputnik that rumors about the president's alleged poor health pursued political goals.
On Thursday, the Turkish head of state took part in the nuclear fuel delivery ceremony at Turkey's Akkuyu nuclear power plant via videoconference.
Turkey's presidential and parliamentary elections are set to take place on May 14. Kemal Kilicdaroglu, put forward by a six-party opposition alliance, is considered Erdogan's main opponent. The list of presidential candidates also includes Muharrem Ince of the Homeland Party and Sinan Ogan of the ATA Alliance. results of pre-election polls are constantly changing and have not yet revealed a clear favorite in the upcoming election.
