Unusual: Erdoğan ‘Off-Air’ For Longer Than 72 Hours

- President Tayyip Erdoğan has stayed off-air from Turkish broadcasters for longer than 72 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.