« Ölüms »… Erdogan’s « death » leads dozens of Turks to investigate

The rumor of the death of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan leads dozens of Turks to investigate, amid an explosive controversy over the reality of his health condition.

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30 people face legal proceedings after Turkish police opened an investigation into rumors on social media that Erdogan had died.

Wednesday, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that Twitter users who tweeted pamphlets under the hashtag ” Ölüms ” meaning “death” in Turkish are being investigated for publishing “misleading information and deceptive content”, according to a police statement issued.

Separately, Erdogan’s lawyers filed a complaint with the Ankara Prosecutor General’s Office, requesting that Twitter users who are linked to the rumors be investigated for “insulting” the president, which can carry a prison sentence of four years.

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Erdogan’s health has been the subject of speculation since 2011, when one of his doctors was forced to deny that the Turkish leader had cancer. The 67-year-old Erdogan performed a serious stomach operation in 2012.

The latest wave of rumors appears to have been triggered by a video from last week’s G20 summit in Rome in which Erdogan appeared to have a walking problem.

What has further fueled the controversy is the Turkish president’s last-minute decision not to attend the COP26 climate conference in Glasgow, Scotland, due to disagreement over security protocols, and his absence from Wednesday’s celebration of the 19th anniversary of his party’s accession to power.

He also appeared ill in a video of the Eid celebration last July, when he stammered in the speech. However, Fakhr al-Din Alton, the Turkish Presidential Media Officer, and several politicians from the ruling Justice and Development Party denied the allegations of the President’s illness, tweeting videos and photos during recent events.

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Last month, Erdogan’s official Twitter account posted a video of him playing basketball with his collaborators after the opposition began to question whether he could physically and mentally carry out his duties.