Turkish PM visits singer Tatlıses in hospital

Prime Ministry Recep Tayyip Erdoğan visited singer İbrahim Tatlıses in the hospital where he has been receiving treatment after being shot in the head last week.

During his 20-minute visit at Maslak Acıbadem Hospital in İstanbul, Erdoğan also accepted Tatlıses' application to run as a deputy candidate for the Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in the upcoming June 12 general elections. The renowned singer will run as a candidate from his hometown of Şanlıurfa.

Speaking to reporters after his visit, Erdoğan had good news on the health of the singer: "I saw Tatlıses [and he seemed] very well. We had a nice conversation. When I said I would go to Adana tomorrow, he asked for my Adana speech. He will move to another room upstairs out of the intensive care unit today. The doctors taking him to a room upstairs means his situation is going well. Thus, I suppose he will respond to the physiotherapy treatments soon. He doesn't have anything on his right side but a little on the left. I believe he will overcome this."

Upon reporters' insistent question on whether or not Tatlıses will run as a deputy candidate for Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party (AK Party), the prime minister simply answered two times, "I have now received his application."

Tatlıses's older son, Ahmet Tatlıses, and his younger son, İbrahim Tatlıses, bid farewell to the prime minister as he left the hospital.

The 58-year-old Kurdish singer, who has millions of fans in Turkey, Greece and the Middle East, and his spokeswoman, Buket Çakıcı, were attacked in İstanbul in a drive-by shooting. Tatlıses and Çakıcı survived the incident. Sixteen suspects, including Abdullah Uçmak, who is accused of soliciting the hitman who nearly killed Tatlıses, were detained last week as part of the investigation into the shooting.

Footage from security cameras at the Atlantis Shopping Mall show Uçmak, accused of having arranged the shooting, and the driver of the car used in the attack, Yunus Ayık, and the alleged hitman, Ersin Altun, strolling around the mall. The footage is from two weeks before the attack, investigators said.

Uçmak, who had threatened Tatlıses in the past, admitted in his testimony that there was a degree of hostility between him and the singer but denied having any role in the attack. Investigators also found e-mails and phone numbers on Uçmak's home computer that are connected to a lawyer who is suspected of having ties to the militant Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been issuing death threats against Kurdish writers and artists who appear to be on good terms with the AK Party government.

Tatlıses had announced plans to run as an AK Party deputy in the June 12 elections, leading the investigators to suspect PKK involvement in the attack.

/World Bulletin/