The heart attack was fatal. The Turkish Islamist MP, who suffered a heart attack on Tuesday in the parliamentary gallery after a speech, died on Thursday, the health minister announced.
"Hasan Bitmez, vice-president of the Saadet (Felicity) party who fainted during his speech to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey on Tuesday, December 12 (...) died today," the minister, Fahrettin Koca, said on the social network X, "despite all the interventions carried out in the intensive care unit" of the Ankara hospital where he had been admitted.
12 Aralık Salı günü TBMM Genel Kurulundaki konuşması sırasında rahatsızlık geçiren Saadet Partisi Genel Başkan Yardımcısı Kocaeli Milletvekili Sn. Hasan Bitmez, tedavi altına alındığı Ankara Bilkent Şehir Hastanesi yoğun bakım servisinde yapılan tüm müdahalelere rağmen...
— Dr. Fahrettin Koca (@drfahrettinkoca) December 14, 2023
Criticism of Erdogan's policies
Hasan Bitmez, 53, collapsed at the podium at the end of a speech denouncing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's policy toward Israel, particularly the continuation of trade relations with the country. "Even if you escape the torments of history, you cannot save yourself from Allah's punishment," he said before collapsing. The elected official had been transferred to the intensive care unit of a hospital in the Turkish capital.
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Videos on social media showed the man collapsing to the ground just behind the podium where he had spoken a second earlier.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vehemently denounced Israel's policy as a "terrorist" state since the beginning of the bombing of the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the bloody attack carried out on October 7 by Palestinian Hamas on Israeli soil.