Ticking clock marks Erdogan's silence after Turkish election

ANKARA (Reuters) - Bemused by President Tayyip Erdogan's sudden absence from the air waves after his ruling AK Party lost its parliamentary majority two days ago, Turks have been sharing a ticking online clock marking his radio silence.

Television stations had broadcast Erdogan speeches as often as three times a day in the weeks running up to Sunday's parliamentary election, which he had hoped would deliver a strong enough AKP victory to boost his presidential powers.

Instead, the vote left the ruling party unable to form a government alone for the first time in more than a decade.

Modern Turkey's most popular but divisive leader issued a brief written statement on Monday but has otherwise been out of the public eye for nearly 48 hours, according to the clock, which was widely shared on social media. (http://bit.ly/1IpK0gn)

"Turkey is enjoying the silence," the Cumhuriyet newspaper, a fierce critic of the government, said on its front page.

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz and Jonny Hogg; Writing by Jonny Hogg; Editing by Nick Tattersall and Gareth Jones)