A Turkish opposition lawmaker died on Thursday, two days after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed in front of parliament while finishing a speech criticizing the Turkish government’s policies towards Israel, Reuters reports.
Hasan Bitmez, 54, a lawmaker from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) party, died at Ankara City Hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said in a televised statement to reporters.
A graduate of Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, Bitmez was president of the Islamic Union Research Center and previously worked for Islamic non-governmental organizations, according to his parliamentary biography. He was married and had a son.
An MEP criticized President Tayyip Erdogan’s AK Party for Turkey’s continued trade relations with Israel despite the Gaza war and rhetorical criticism of Israeli military bombing.
“They allow ships to enter Israel and call it trade. They are accomplices of Israel,” Bitmez said in a speech after placing a banner on the podium that read: “Murderer of Israel; AKP employee.”
“You have the blood of Palestinians on your hands, you are collaborators. You contribute to all the bombs that Israel drops on the Gaza Strip,” he told MPs during a debate on the Foreign Office’s 2024 budget.
Having finished his speech, Bitmez fell to the ground. Angiography showed that the two main veins of the heart were completely blocked.
“His heart stopped beating, he was resuscitated in parliament and 20 minutes later he was taken to hospital,” Koca said on Tuesday.
Author: morning Post
Source: CM Jornal
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