ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday cancelled his planned appearances due to a stomach bug, clearing Thursday’s calendar a few hours later. “Today I will rest at home under the advice of our doctors,” Erdogan said on his official Twitter account.

He cut short a live television interview late on Tuesday after getting sick on air.

His television appearance on Tuesday began more than 90 minutes behind schedule and then went to a commercial break in the middle of a question 10 minutes into the show.

The camera shook and the reporter asking the question stood up from his chair when the broadcast cut off.

“Oh wow,” an unidentified voice could be heard saying off camera.

Erdogan returned about 15 minutes later to apologise for getting sick.

“Yesterday and today were hard work. That’s why I got a stomach flu,” Erdogan said.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2023