Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who is facing the toughest election of his 20-year rule, cut short a live TV interview Tuesday night after suffering from an upset stomach.
Erdoğan was being interviewed on Turkish TV when the program was interrupted for about 20 minutes, after the president suddenly felt ill off-camera, according to the BBC.
He later came back to the screen, explaining he had suffered from a “serious stomach cold” and had considered canceling the interview — which started one-and-a-half hours late — after doing “intense campaign work” on Monday and Tuesday.
“Naturally, we are facing such issues from time to time amid such a busy schedule,” Erdoğan said.
“Praise God, our president is in good health,” Erdoğan’s spokesperson İbrahim Kalın tweeted after the incident.
Erdoğan, 69, has been in power since 2003 and is set for a tough reelection battle in the general election on May 14.
The opposition coalition, made up of six parties from across the political spectrum, has united behind Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu, an understated 74 year old and former bureaucrat who is ahead in the polls.
The Kurdish vote, which makes up a fifth of the country’s 85 million population, is likely to play a decisive role in the election.
Although Kılıçdaroğlu has not formally been backed by the main pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), it has not nominated a presidential candidate incidentally boosting his cause.
Kılıçdaroğlu, nicknamed the “Turkish Gandhi” because of his slight build and mild demeanor, wished Erdoğan a “speedy recovery” after he took ill during the interview.
