Recep Tayyip Erdogan wanted to dispel the rumors about his alleged serious illness with a Twitter video. But the pictures of the Turkish president playing basketball had the opposite effect: the discussion about his health has flared up again. Not only the opposition is already asking how long the politician who has been in power for almost 20 years will hold out.
Meanwhile, the alarm reports are increasing: In the summer, the 67-year-old Erdogan fell asleep during a video message to his followers in the middle of a sentence. A few months earlier, he had to rely on his wife Emine and a bodyguard as he went down a flight of stairs. The speeches of the once so eloquent Turk seem put on and read off. His gait is stiff and wooden.
On a TV talk show, a doctor speculated that Erdogan had epilepsy. He may not be able to run for the next election in two years, wrote the Middle East expert Stephen Cook of the US think tank CFR in the influential US magazine “Foreign Policy” a few days ago. Cook recommended that western governments prepare for this, suggesting Defense Secretary Hulusi Akar had the best chance of succeeding him.
Erdogan’s not only bad health. Two years before the regular elections due in 2023, he is also weakening in opinion polls. On average, out of the last seven surveys carried out, Erdogan’s AKP and the right-wing nationalist MHP allied with it only got 40.5 percent of the vote. The opposition parties CHP and IYI, which are part of an alliance, are very thin with 40.6 percent.
No thought of resigning
Meanwhile, the ruling party AKP has doubts about Erdogan’s administration. A resignation is still out of the question. If Erdogan loses power, he must fear that the old corruption allegations will come up again.
