Turkish President talk a man out of jumping off a bridge

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan​ has been credited with talking a man out of jumping off a bridge in Istanbul, saving his life.

Mr Erdogan’s office said the President talked Vezir Cakras out of taking his own life on Christmas Day. Television footage showed Mr Erdogan’s motorcade stopping on Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge where a man was apparently contemplating jumping off. An official from Mr Erdogan’s office told The Associated Press Mr Cakras was depressed because of “family issues”.

The news comes after Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu​ on Thursday accused the head of Turkey’s pro-Kurdish opposition party of treason for using a trip to Moscow to condemn Ankara’s shooting down of a Russian warplane over Syria

​Selahattin Demirtas, co-head of the Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP), met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Moscow on Wednesday and criticised Ankara for shooting down the warplane near the border with Syria last month. Moscow denies it had entered Turkish airspace.

“They take sides with whoever Turkey is facing a crisis with. Demirtas saying in Moscow that Turkey’s downing of Russian jet was wrong is a total disgrace and treason,” Mr Davutoglu told a meeting of businessmen in Ankara.

“Our main duty is to raise our voice against Russian cruelty. Supporting Russia while it kills civilians in Syria is treason not only against this country, but also against humanity.”

Kurdish politicians have accused Ankara of focusing military efforts on Kurdish militia in Iraq and Syria and failing to take up the fight with Islamic State.

Russia, which imposed economic sanctions on Turkey after the November 24 incident, has sharply criticised Mr Erdogan. It would be keenly aware of the sensitivity of Ankara to any contacts between Moscow and Kurdish politicians.

Mr Erdogan has accused the HDP, the second-largest opposition party in Turkey’s parliament, of connections with armed Kurdish rebels fighting in Turkey’s south-east.

Mr Lavrov told Mr Demirtas that Russia was ready to co-operate closely with ethnic Kurds fighting against IS militants in Iraq and Syria.