The Turkish lawmaker who suffered a heart attack in parliament shortly after saying Israel "will suffer the wrath of Allah" died Thursday, two days after slamming Istanbul's policy toward Jerusalem. Hasan Bitmez, 54, a member of the parliament from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) Party, died in Ankara City Hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters.
Koca announced Bitmez's death in televised remarks to reporters. Bitmez is survived by his wife and child. Disturbing footage showed Bitmez collapsing at the podium during the general assembly on Tuesday, shortly after delivering a fiery speech criticizing President Tayyip Erdogan's ruling AK Party for Turkey's continued trade with Israel amid the conflict with Hamas.
Shocking Death after Fiery Speech
"You allow ships to go to Israel and you shamelessly call it trade... You are Israel's accomplice," Bitmez said in his tirade after placing a banner on the podium emblazoned with the words: "Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP."
"You have the blood of Palestinians on your hands, you are collaborators. You contribute to every bomb Israel drops on Gaza," he told other lawmakers.
Rounding off his impassioned speech, Bitmez said: "We can perhaps hide from our conscience but not from history," stating that "Israel will suffer the wrath of Allah," as reported by The Yeshiva World.
At that moment, he stumbled, dropped to his knees, and then lay flat on his back. Following this incident, the Saadet Party Kocaeli Deputy had to be carried out of the hall on a stretcher after receiving chest compressions for an extended period, as reported by Turkish media.
Turhan Çömez, a deputy from the Kemalist İYİ Party and a trained doctor, reportedly was the first to assist his political rival during the incident.
Bitmez, who had diabetes, was urgently taken to the local hospital in critical condition after his heart reportedly stopped but was successfully restarted.
Rushed to Hospital but In Vain
Following the incident, Health Minister Koca stated that Bitmez's heart had stopped beating, but he was revived in parliament.
He was then transported in extremely critical condition to the local hospital, where he was placed on life support.
An angiography revealed that the two main veins in Bitmez's heart were completely blocked, according to the health minister.
Members of Erdogan's party later attributed Bitmez's medical emergency to "God's wrath," as per the minutes from the tumultuous parliamentary session.
Bitmez, a graduate of Cairo's Al Azhar University, served as the chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research. His parliamentary biography indicates that he had previously been associated with Islamic non-governmental organizations.
