Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman Ibrahim Kalin on October 31 confirmed in a tweet that he has reached the final stage of a coronavirus (COVID-19) treatment following media speculation that he had picked up an infection.
“I had mild symptoms and I am very well at the moment,” the 49-year-old Kalin wrote.
Kalin did not state how long he has been sick, Al Jazeera noted.
Also on October 31, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu, 50, confirmed on Twitter that he, his wife and daughter tested positive for coronavirus after they took repeat COVID-19 tests on October 26 as they did not feel well.
Mentions of “routine” and “repeat” testing for the virus cause fury among Turks as it seems hardly possible for an ordinary citizen to get a test until they are wheeled into an intensive care unit.
The Soylu family received treatment at home until October 30 and were hospitalised on October 31 on their doctors’ advice, the minister also said in his Twitter message, adding that they were feeling a bit better.
There had been media discussion as to where the interior minister had got to as he did not turn up in Izmir, the largest city on Turkey’s Western coast, after a 7-magnitude earthquake hit the city on October 30.
Suffice to say, the Izmir earthquake has not caused significant economic damage but, as per usual with a substantial quake in Turkey, dilapidated buildings that should have been steadied or pulled down long ago collapsed to the ground, killing dozens.
The US Air Force Times reported that around 100 US military personnel are stationed in Izmir. It appears that they are not housed in one of the death-trap buildings as not even a scratch was recorded among their ranks.
Routinely meet Erdogan
Getting back to the coronavirus that’s made its way to the palace, Kalin’s workplace is within the building in the Bestepe district of Ankara. Both he and Soylu routinely meet Erdogan, 66, according to Al Jazeera.
The president’s entourage is regularly tested for the virus and Erdogan has exhibited no signs of the illness and is sticking to a punishing schedule that often includes several daily televised speeches, the broadcaster also noted.
Erdogan on October 31 was making his way quickly, and noisily, around Turkey. One moment he was in Van on the border with Iran, the next he was in Izmir on the Aegean coast.
On November 1, he attended a funeral in Istanbul.
Soylu is the first member of Erdogan’s cabinet known to have tested positive for coronavirus, Bloomberg noted, adding that neither Kalin nor Soylu said in their Twitter messages when they last came into contact with Erdogan.
Erdogan’s website shows the president pictured with the pair on October 20 during a cabinet meeting at the palace.
As has become embarrassingly clear, the Turkish government is not following international reporting norms in outlining the extent of the pandemic in the country. It does not report the Turkey’s actual coronavirus figures (for instance, it declines to report asymptomatic cases even though it is quite clear people with no symptoms can be big spreaders of the disease). But then it doesn’t like reporting transparent figures in any field (many analysts by now have serious doubts that, for instance, the official GDP, inflation and unemployment data chime with reality). One might get the impression that the Erdogan administration doesn’t pay too much heed to the virus outbreak. And one would be right.
Erdogan lately moved to curb the influence the medical associations that have become rather too vocal for his liking on the failures of his government in addressing the pandemic. And his administration recently banned health workers’ resignation, retirement and vacation rights.
This winter will be a long one in Turkey.
