Photo Showing Erdogan Teaching Quran to Grandson Taken on Night of Failed Coup
"This is the elder son of [Energy Minister Berat Albayrak]. It was taken in Marmaris on the night of the failed coup attempt. For around a five-day period, we stayed there, I told him, ‘Son, we will read five pages every day here.’ He is reading the Quran well and we will repeat it there. Mashallah, he is slowly coming to a good point. He had his lesson that night and the events unfolded in the later hours,” Erdogan said in an interview with private broadcaster 24 TV.
Ahmet Akif Albayrak is the son of the president’s daughter Esra Albayrak and Energy Minister Berat Albayrak.
The photograph was published by pro-government daily Yeni Safak and immediately circulated on social media.
Erdogan was holidaying in the southern resort of Marmaris with his family on the night of the attempted takeover. After being informed about "some kind of movement” in Istanbul, Ankara and other cities, his plane took off and landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport safely despite reportedly being pursued by warplanes belonging to putschists.
The photo of teaching the Quran was published days before Turks vote in a referendum on 16 April on whether or not to change the country’s constitution and hand the president more power.
It seeks to show that despite his intensive program to encourage Turks to vote for the changes in the constitution, Erdogan does not neglect to devote time to his family and to religious affairs.
The referendum has opened up deep rifts in Turkey.
It would change the Turkish constitution from a parliamentary to a presidential system. The office of prime minister would be scrapped, and the president, who would be elected directly by popular vote, would be the head of the executive branch of government as well as the head of state.
The president would gain a number of powers, including the right to draw up budgets, to appoint and dismiss government ministers and judges, and to issue decrees in some areas. The president would also be allowed to retain an affiliation to a political party. At present the president is required to nominally sever his political ties and govern as a "neutral."
