Erdogan appeared after his illness and introduced the first Turkish astronaut

The first Turkish astronaut will travel to the International Space Station in Earth's orbit this year, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced today when he appeared after a four-day absence from the public due to an illness that caused rumors.

Air Force pilot Alper Gezeravci (43) has been chosen to be the first Turkish citizen to travel to the International Space Station where he will perform 14 experiments over 13 days.

Erdogan said that Gezeravci is already "a heroic Turkish pilot who has achieved significant success in the Air Force Command."

On the website of the Turkish Space Agency, it is written that Gezeravci has been a pilot for 21 years and now flies an F-16 fighter jet, and attended the US Air Force Institute of Technology.

The reserve astronaut, if Gezeravci does not travel, will be Tuva Cihangir Atasever (30), an engineer of aviation systems at the Turkish defense company "Roketsan".

The XNUMX-year-old head of state, who, as he said, had a stomach virus, has been communicating only via video link for the past four days, which has raised questions about his health.

However, today, looking healthy, wearing a red pilot's jacket, Erdogan visited the aeronautical fair "Teknofest" at the old Ataturk airport in Istanbul. The fair is presented by Turkey as "the biggest in the world", and its military industry exhibits drones and planes.

Erdogan toured the Fair together with the President of Azerbaijan, Ilham Aliyev, and the Interim Prime Minister of Libya, Abdul Hamid Dbeibeh.

Two weeks before the uncertain presidential elections on May 14, according to the results of the polls, it seems that they will be much more difficult for Erdogan than before.

Turkey's economy has long been in decline, and the government has been criticized since February's earthquake that killed more than 50.000 as experts blamed poor construction and lax enforcement of building codes in part for the massive damage and deaths.

During the re-election campaign, Erdogan presented a number of prestigious projects, such as Turkey's first nuclear power plant and the delivery of natural gas from the Black Sea reserves.