Turkish lawmaker who had heart attack after saying Israel ‘will suffer the wrath of Allah’ dies

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By Snejana Farberov

The Turkish lawmaker who suffered a heart attack on the floor of parliament after declaring that Israel “will suffer the wrath of Allah” died Thursday, just two days after condemning Istanbul’s policy toward Jerusalem.

Hasan Bitmez, 54, a member of parliament from the opposition Saadet Party, died in Ankara City Hospital, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters in televised remarks.

He is survived by a wife and child.

Shocking video showed Bitmez collapsing at the podium before the general assembly Tuesday, moments after delivering a fiery speech panning President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party over Turkey’s ongoing trade with Israel despite the war with Hamas.

“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 lawmakers, adding that Israel “will suffer the wrath of Allah.”

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After wrapping up his impassioned address with the words, “Salutations to all,” Bitmez suddenly fell backward on the floor and remained lying motionless on his back, with other MPs rushing from all sides to his aid.

Bitmez, who was diabetic, was rushed to the local hospital in critical condition, after his heart reportedly stopped but was restarted.

Koca said afterward that Bitmez’s heart stopped beating, but he was revived in parliament and taken in extremely critical condition to the local hospital, where he was put on life support.

An angiography revealed that the two main veins in Bitmez’s heart were completely blocked, the health minister said.

MPs from Erdogan’s party later blamed Bitmez’s medical emergency on “God’s wrath,” according to minutes from the chaotic parliamentary session.

A graduate of Cairo’s Al Azhar University, Bitmez was the chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research and had previously worked for Islamic non-governmental organizations, his parliament biography states.