Erdoğan health: did President of Türkiye fall ill on live TV - is he in the hospital?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan left a live television mid-interview on Tuesday (25 April) before later returning and apologising, stating that he had developed a stomach bug. The interview began more than 90 minutes behind schedule, and was cut off 10 minutes into the programme. 

Earlier that day, Erdoğan had given three campaign speeches in preparation for the upcoming Parliamentary and Presidential elections in May. 

Erdoğan returned to the interview 15 minutes later, stating that he had “a stomach flu”. 

He said: “Yesterday and today were hard work. That’s why I got a stomach flu. At one point, I wondered if it would be misunderstood if we cancelled the programme. But we promised. I ask for your and our audience’s forgiveness.” 

Erdoğan took a few more questions before the broadcast ended. 

Taking to Twitter, Erdoğan announced that he had cancelled his scheduled campaign rallies on Wednesday and Thursday (26 and 27 April) for health reasons. 

He wrote: “Today, I will rest at home with the advice of my doctors.”

Is he in the hospital?

Following his interview being cut short, many viewers began to speculate on the health of the Turkish President, with some claiming that he was suffering from a heart attack, cancer or poisoning. 

As it stands, there has been no official confirmation that Erdoğan has been admitted to the hospital. 

Who is Recep Tayyip Erdoğan?

Erdoğan is a Turkish politician who is currently serving as the 12th President of Turkey. Prior to resuming office in August 2014, Erdoğan was also the Prime Minister of Turkey from 2003 to 2014, and mayor of Istanbul from 1994 to 1998. 

He was born on 26 February 1954 in Güneysu, Rize before later moving to Kasımpaşa, a poor neighbourhood of Istanbul, with his family. 

Erdoğan became involved in politics in 1976 when he joined the National Turkish Student Union, which was an anti-communist action group. Later that year, the Beyoğlu youth branch of the Islamist National Salvation Party (MSP) made Erdoğan the head and he was later promoted to chair of the Istanbul youth branch of the party.

He was elected into Parliament in 1991 and in the local elections in 1994, Erdoğan ran as a candidate for the Mayor of Istanbul, winning the election with 25.19% of the popular vote. 

Erdoğan served time in prison in 1999 after reciting a poem by activist  Ziya Gökalp in Siirt in December 1997. In his reading Erdoğan included translated verses which were not part of the original poem, including the lines: “The mosques are our barracks, the domes our helmets, the minarets our bayonets and the faithful our soldiers.” 

He was sentenced to 10 months in jail under the Turkish penal code which regarded his reading as an incitement to violence and religious or racial hatred. Erdoğan had to give up his mayoral position due to his conviction. His sentence was later reduced to four months. 

The day that he went to prison, Erdoğan released an album called This Song Doesn’t End Here, which featured a variety of poems. It became the best selling album of Turkey in 1999.