Turkish member of parliament suffers heart attack during speech

Hasan Bitmez

Turkish member of parliament Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack while delivering a passionate speech against the government’s policy towards Israel, reports Al-Jazeera.


Hasan, 54, collapsed in the parliament while addressing the House. He was taken to a hospital in Ankara where he died two days later, on Thursday. He was a member of the Islamist Saadet Partisi or Felicity Party.


In his speech, Hasan called out President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government for the duplicity of its policies, “You allow ships to go to Israel, and you shamelessly call it trade. … You are Israel’s accomplice.” He criticised Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) in his speech on Tuesday and raised a poster on the podium that said, “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.”

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Hasan delivered a 20-minute-long speech before collapsing where he warned the President by saying, “Even if you escape the torment of history, you will not be able to escape the wrath of God.” He was immediately given first-aid after the coronary episode.

Hasan, a prominent figure of the opposition, graduated from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, worked for Islamic nongovernmental groups and was chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research.


His speech accused the government of continuing friendly economic relations with Israel during its assault on Gaza, which has killed nearly 19,000 Gazans.


As he delivered the speech, he was mocked by AK Party members.

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