A young man who attempted to take his own life by jumping from the Bosporus Bridge in İstanbul was dissuaded from going through with it by former Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu, the DHA news agency reported on Wednesday.
The man, referred only by the initials D.Y., was wearing a T-shirt with the logo of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), of which Davutoğlu is a member, and had a Turkish flag on his back.
When Davutoğlu, who was crossing the bridge in his official car, saw police officers trying to convince the man, who had climbed on the railing, to abandon his suicide attempt, he stopped his car and intervened. After speaking with D.Y. for a few minutes, the man climbed down.
Davutoğlu came to public attention last week with his criticism of the AKP and its policies.
In his first major public challenge to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan since leaving office three years ago, Davutoğlu slammed the party’s economic policies, media restrictions and the damage he said it had done to the separation of powers and to Turkey’s institutions.
Davutoğlu, a high-profile figure in the party, served as prime minister between 2014 and 2016 before a falling out with Erdoğan, who has ruled Turkey with his AKP for 16 years.
A similar incident happened in December 2015 as Erdoğan was crossing the same bridge and prevented a man from taking his own life.