Unusual: Erdoğan ‘off-air’ for almost four days

ISTANBUL

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan casts his vote in Istanbul on June 7. 'I observe that there is a high turnout. This is a necessary situation for a strong democracy,' he said.





President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has stayed off-air from Turkish broadcasters for longer than 94 hours - an unprecedented length of time considering his relentless TV speeches in the months before the general election.Erdoğan had been appearing on Turkish TV stations as often as three times a day during the campaign season for the June 7 general elections. He even gave a brief, deliberately non-partisan speech at noon on the day he was voting in Istanbul on June 7.After the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which he co-founded, lost its parliamentary majority in the election, Erdoğan released a statement calling on all parties to assess the results of the June 7 parliamentary election “healthily and realistically.”On June 8, he left the presidential mansion in Istanbul after following and evaluating the election results for 20 hours and flew to Ankara at 4:30 p.m. Making no public appearances on June 8, the Turkish president also postponed a meeting he was expected to hold with Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu until June 9.Erdoğan, whose first scheduled public appearance was set to be at a June 11 graduation ceremony in Ankara, chose not to speak to the cameras after his meeting with Davutoğlu on the evening of June 9.On June 10 afternoon, Erdoğan held a surprise meeting with the Republican People's Party's (CHP) most senior deputy-elect, Deniz Baykal, at the Foreign Ministry residence in Ankara. However, he again did not speak to the cameras after the meeting, keeping his media silence apart from written statements.With Erdoğan finally speaking in public at a graduation event in Ankara on June 11, the ticking counter showing how long since he was last on-air on Turkish TV came to a halt. Here is the final image of the counter: