Former Turkish PM Yıldırım tests positive for coronavirus

Binali Yıldırım, an AKP lawmaker who served as Turkey's 27th and final prime minister, has announced that he and his wife have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Yıldırım, 64, said that both he and his wife were in good health and entered home quarantine upon the instructions of the doctors.

Thursday September 03 2020 02:59 pm

Duvar English

Binali Yıldırım, a lawmaker from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) who has served as minister and prime minister under President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced on Sept. 3 that he tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Yıldırım, 64, said that he is in good health and entered home quarantine with his wife Semiha Yıldırım, who also tested positive for the virus.

"Due to body fatigue, I and Semiha applied to the Ankara City Hospital this morning. As a result of examinations, our COVID-19 test results came positive," Yıldırım wrote on Twitter.

"We are in good health; there is no negative situation. Our doctors have seen it appropriate that we go through this process at home," he wrote.

1- Vücut kırgınlığı nedeniyle bu sabah Semiha Hanım ile birlikte Ankara Şehir Hastanesi'ne başvurduk. Yapılan tetkikler sonucu Covid-19 testimizin sonucu pozitif çıkmıştır.
— Binali Yıldırım (@BY) September 3, 2020

2- Durumumuz iyi, herhangi bir olumsuzluk yok. Doktorlarımız, süreci evde geçirmemizi uygun gördüler. Vatandaşlarımızdan TMM kuralına riayet etmelerini özellikle istirham ediyoruz. Dua eder, dua bekleriz.
— Binali Yıldırım (@BY) September 3, 2020

Yıldırım has become the second most high-profile Turkish politician to contract COVID-19. Democracy and Progress Party (DEVA) chair Ali Babacan, 53, last week announced that he was infected with the virus. This week, Babacan announced that he would continue his COVID-19 treatment at the hospital as his symptoms were still ongoing.

Yıldırım became Turkey's last prime minister in 2016, when his predecessor, Ahmet Davutoğlu, stepped down over conflicts with Erdoğan.

Yıldırım was also the AKP's mayoral candidate during the local elections of March 2019. He lost the race twice to current Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, from the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) – on March 31, 2019 and on the re-run election of June 23, 2019.