ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish President Abdullah Gul tweeted from his hospital bed on Thursday to reassure Turks he was recovering from an ear infection which forced him to cancel a Victory Day reception as well as several overseas trips.
Gul, 61, whose role in Turkey is largely ceremonial, returned early from a trip to Kyrgyzstan on Thursday last week and was admitted to hospital in the capital Ankara.
Doctors have advised him not to fly for two months, a presidential source said.
“Praise to Allah that my health is improving,” Gul said in a message on his Twitter account, accompanied by a photograph of him dressed in pyjamas and reading documents in bed. “By the way, I’m not wasting my time in hospital. I keep on working, reading reports and books,” he said. Gul, who has suffered from ear problems in the past, had been due to host a reception later on Thursday to mark Victory Day, Turkey’s August 30 celebration of the end of the Turkish War of Independence in 1922. He has also had to cancel trips to Sweden and the United States.