Turkish Congressman Collapses During Speech, Suffers Heart Attack and Later Dies

(WatchDogReport.org) – Turkish Congressman Hasan Bitmez suffered a heart attack and collapsed live on air while he was delivering a rant against Israel at Turkey’s National Assembly on December 12.

While the Grand Assembly of Turkey’s parliament was debating some budgetary considerations, Bitmez started to condemn the Israeli government’s war against the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. He accused Israelis and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of committing an “ethnic cleansing” and numerous “crimes against humanity” on innocent Palestinians who only want to be “free” and live with “dignity.”

At the podium, Bitmez also told fellow parliamentarians that the truth will never “remain silent” no matter what history tries to hide. He pointed out that Jews are wrong if they think that getting “rid of us” will somehow solve their problems, as their actions will end up being a “torment of conscience” they won’t be able to “escape from.” Before having the heart attack and collapsing, the last thing he said was that Israel wouldn’t be able to “escape from the wrath of Allah.”

According to initial reports, the 54-year-old congressman, who was the deputy chief of the Turkish Islamist party Saadet, was currently in critical condition. Local media said he didn’t die at the podium thanks to Turhan Comez, who is a fellow parliamentarian and a trained physician who rushed to his aid when he collapsed. Bitmez was immediately transferred from the National Assembly Chamber to Ankara’s Bilkent City Hospital, where he was rushed to intensive care.

While Comez’s actions may have prolonged the inevitable, Bitmez later died at the Ankara City Hospital on December 21. The Turkish parliament held a small ceremony to honor their fallen comrade shortly after.

Saadet has been considered the most hardline Islamist alternative to President Recep Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AKP), which many political analysts believe is trying to end Turkey’s secularism. While Saadet has supported Erdogan on many occasions, it was critical of the Turkish government after Israel declared war, as Erdogan restored diplomatic relations with the Jewish state in September 2022. Some members of Saadet have claimed that the Turkish president needed to clarify if he was going to support “Jewish colonizers” or the “innocent Muslims” who were being killed and “oppressed” in Gaza.