OUR Recep Tayyip Erdogan was forced on the third day to cancel his public performances due to illness.

In particular, the Turkish president decided not to attend the inauguration of the bridge in Adana in southern Turkey scheduled for today, according to the website of the Turkish presidency.

However, he will participate via video conference from his office. It is noted that Erdogan rarely misses the infrastructure inaugurations with which he promotes his campaign for re-election in the May 14 presidential election. And yesterday, Wednesday, he also did not attend the opening of the high-speed railway in Ankara.

Erdogan campaigned at an intense pace and usually appeared in public three times a day.

But the outgoing president, 69, fell ill on Tuesday evening, two weeks before parliamentary and presidential elections. He was forced to cut short a live television interview due to an upset stomach and then suspended his campaign.

Yesterday, Thursday, he briefly appeared in a video conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin, in which the Turkish president looked pale. Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said Erdogan has stomach problems and needs rest.

Recent polls portend a head-on battle between Erdogan and his main rival for the presidency, opposition leader Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu.

^{Source: APE – MEB, dpa}