Reuters confirms PATurkey monitoring social media chatter that Rumours spread on social media Tuesday night that events on Erdogan’s agenda for Wednesday had been cancelled for health reasons. A presidential source said Erdogan’s schedule had not been cancelled and that he would work from Ankara.
Communications Director Fahrettin Altun posted a short video of Erdogan walking from his car on Twitter, while another video showed him climbing stairs to board a plane.
Greek press headlined an article titled “Orgy of rumors and fake news about Erdogan’s health causes uproar in Turkey”. The article claims
At 4.30 in the morning, a hashtag with the word “died” was able to upset social media in Turkey and provoke new discussions about President Tayyip Erdogan. This hashtag was the beginning of a new barrage of rumors about the health condition of the Turkish president, which later turned out to be false news.
The said videos may not be fresh, as by 16:00 pm Istanbul time, rumors find expression in YouTube space. While Turkish main-stream and social media is prone to exaggerations, false news, and much hyperbole, President Erdogan’s growing frailty is a matter of serious concern in Ankara.
At 16:00 hours dollar/TL is still up %0.75 today, trading at 8.67-68.
PATurkey anticipates more health scares like the one which excited Turkey in the days to come, as the Presidency refuses to release reliable medical checkups of Erdogan.
TL took a beating in early hours of the day, before Turkstat announced YoY CPI at 19.89% vs 20.7% consensus. Even though a large number of impartial economists question the validity of Turkstat figures, global investors either skirt away the subject, or are not aware of data manipulation claims, because TL recovered suddenly after 10:00 am, when the Turkstat print was released.