Erdogan cancels campaign stops day after falling ill on live TV

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has canceled planned appearances due to a stomach bug less than three weeks before the country’s crunch election.

The 69-year-old leader’s announcement comes a day after he cut short a live television interview late after getting sick on air.

Erdogan had three appearances in the central Anatolian provinces planned for Wednesday.

But he said Vice President Fuat Oktay would take his place instead.

“Today I will rest at home under the advice of our doctors,” Erdogan said on his official Twitter account.

His television appearance on Tuesday began more than 90 minutes behind schedule and then went to a commercial break in the middle of a question 10 minutes into the show.

The camera shook and the reporter asking the question stood up from his chair when the broadcast cut off. “Oh wow,” an unidentified voice could be heard saying off camera.

Erdogan returned about 15 minutes later to apologize for getting sick, but looked ashen and ended the program a few minutes later.

“Yesterday and today were hard work. That’s why I got a stomach flu,” Erdogan told the interviewer.