Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan appeared in public for the first time in a week on Thursday, ending days of speculation about his whereabouts and scotching reports in some Arab and Israeli news outlets that he had died.

The president attended an inauguration ceremony for a new Supreme Court judge, and the presidency also shared a photo of Erdoğan meeting Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.

Turkish social media was abuzz with rumours about Erdoğan after some Arab and Israeli news outlets, each citing the other, reported this week that Erdoğan had died of a heart attack and his death had been kept secret.

Social media users were wondering for days whether the president was actually dead, sick, or on holiday.