Erdogan makes first public appearance after feeling unwell
3 Min Read
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan makes his first public appearance after being out of the public eye due to being ill.
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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan inaugurates the country's first nuclear power plant via video conference, at the Presidential Palace, in Ankara, on April 27, 2023 (AP)
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday made his first public appearance in days after falling ill earlier in the week, a Sputnik correspondent reported.
Erdogan's appearance came during an aerospace and technology festival, called Teknofest, in Istanbul, which is known as the country's economic capital.
First Lady Emine Erdogan was also seen attending the event, along with Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, who was accompanied by his wife, Mehriban, and Libyan Prime Minister Abdul Hamid Al-Dbeibeh.
Erdogan abruptly interrupted on Tuesday a live television interview after feeling ill. He came back after a long break and explained that he had caught stomach flu. The very next day, he canceled several election campaign events after he was advised to do so by his doctor.
There were reports alleging that the Turkish president suffered from a heart attack, through the presidency in Ankara dismissed these claims.
He still participated in several events, though it was not in-person, as he took part in the nuclear fuel delivery ceremony at the Turkish Akkuyu power plan via a videoconference on Thursday before going on to do the same on Friday at the opening ceremony for the bridge over River Seyhan in Adana.
This comes as the Turkish elections are anticipated to be the most polarized this year, determining the fate of 85 million citizens, and are supposed to be a litmus test for Erdogan's job performance. This will mark the second election since Turkey switched from a parliamentary to a presidential system following a 2017 referendum that granted him broad new powers.
During a press conference at the Turkish Supreme Election Commission’s HQ in Ankara, the head of the country's High Election Board (YSK), Ahmet Yener, recently said the total number of registered voters expected to partake in the May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections has amounted to a total of 64,113,941 votes; 60,697,843 are on Turkish mainland, and the rest are in the diaspora.
The total number of ballot boxes inside the country amount to a total of 191,884, and another 5,040 are outside the country.
In regard to the Turkish citizens who became eligible to vote (i.e. turned 18) since the last elections, Yener noted that 4,904,672 new voters will be participating in the elections for the first time (277,646 of which are in the diaspora) and 47,523 others will be participating in the elections in the event of a second round of presidential elections (2,435 of which are in the diaspora).
Also, about 133,000 voters who reside in the areas destroyed by the February earthquake have transferred their registrations to other states.
Elderly voters (those above the age of 70) amount to a total of 3,180,802 inside the country.
