The rumors about the health condition of the Turkish President Tayyip started with a hashtag on Twitter on November 3, the 19th anniversary of the elections that brought his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in power.
In a few hours, allegations spread beyond the reach of social media. Media outlets and embassies in Ankara were trying to get a confirmation or a denial. This was natural. A month ago, an article was published in the American magazine Foreign Policy: “Erdoğan Might Be Too Sick to Keep Leading Turkey”.
Finally, (and I think very belatedly) Presidency sources denied the allegations to Reuters. Before that, the official photographer of the President broadcasted on Twitter the images of Erdoğan boarding the plane from İstanbul in the late morning hours. Yiğit Bulut, one of his economic advisors, posted the footage of Erdoğan as he landed in Ankara. Then came the video of his Communications Director Fahrettin Altun. The Directorate of Security (police force) launched an investigation against those who posted with the hashtag “#ölmüş”, or #dead” on Twitter, and shortly announced that 30 people were taken into custody.
Politics over the health of leaders
The health of the rulers of the country is of interest to the people. This is not within the scope of private life. In some countries, the health status of the leaders is shared with the public. You can find the health status of the President of the USA on the Internet. From Angela Merkel to Boris Johnson to Vladimir Putin, the attitude of leaders during the Covid-19 outbreak has been to inform the public immediately. Merkel quickly declared that her tremors were an inconvenience and decided to retire from politics. We do not have this transparency.
It is a democratic right for the people to know about the health condition of their leader, but it is just as wrong to make politics over the health of political leaders.
Erdoğan cannot walk like before. It is obvious. The walking problem is not an obstacle to running the country. US President Franklin Roosevelt ruled the United States from a wheelchair for many years and throughout World War II. It is also public information that Erdoğan had previously been hospitalized for epilepsy and recovered from bowel surgery.
The important thing is the ability of the leader to make reasonable judgments and take sensible political and economic decisions on problems of the country. The US Constitution has taken precautions against such a situation. However, if you post images of him playing basketball when it is clear that the President cannot walk like he used to, as if you are mocking people, you are inviting such malicious rumors.
It was the case when Ecevit was unwell
Bülent Ecevit was the last prime minister before the AKP rule. He was 77 years old when he went to the 2002 early elections, upon the call of -then- his coalition partner MHP leader Devlet Bahçeli. Ecevit fell into the floor in his Prime Ministry office that year and was hospitalized, but his ailments had started a year earlier. He had difficulty in walking, and because of his situation, several successive cabinet meetings were canceled. The opposition and some media outlets at that time were making heavy and impolite statements about his health condition. Erdoğan was among the politicians who slammed Ecevit because of sticking to power despite his poor health.
Not just them. Four four-star military officers at the Republic Day reception on October 29, 2001, by President Ahmet Necdet Sezer, had told me that they wanted Ecevit to step down due to his poor health that affected the economy. They said on an anonymous basis that they wanted Ecevit’s deputy Hüsamettin Özkan to take his place, and they had already taken action for this. After double-checking the case, I immediately wrote the story, and a kind of coup plot was blown up.
On the other hand, Ecevit also denied his ailments until he was hospitalized and could no longer hide. Rumors had grown with his denial.
Sicknesses are for people. It is not good for the leaders to try to hide their health conditions that could affect the government affairs of their people. It is not good for any country and its people to try to hide the health problems of its leader. It is also not good to seek political benefit over the health of leaders. It also weakens democratic politics.
