Turkish MP Dies After Having Heart Attack During ‘Wrath of Allah’ Tirade

Turkish lawmaker Hasan Bitmez of the hardline Islamist Saadet Party (SP) died in the hospital on Thursday, two days after he collapsed during a fiery tirade against Israel at the Turkish National Assembly.

Bitmez, 54, collapsed at the climax of a 22-minute speech on Tuesday in which he criticized the government of Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his AKP Party for not taking a strong enough stance against Israel in the Gaza war.

He was especially critical of Erdogan for “shamelessly” maintaining trade with Israel. He reportedly suffered a heart attack.

“You are Israel’s accomplice,” Bitmez railed at Erdogan, draping the speaker’s podium with a banner that read, “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 raged at AKP legislators, who responded by thumping their desks and shouting back at him.

Bitmez reportedly shouted to Israel, “you will not escape the wrath of Allah!”

The parliament was reportedly debating the national budget at the time of his remarks. It is not clear from Turkish media reports if Bitmez’s anti-Israel attack was germane to the budgetary considerations at hand.

Bitmez was quickly assisted by other members of parliament, one of whom had medical training, and taken to a hospital in Ankara.

According to Turkish Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Bitmez was treated with a prolonged heart massage and received angioplasty at the hospital, after doctors saw two of his main arteries were completely blocked. He was connected to an artificial lung and a heart device, but these methods were only able to keep him alive until 11:50 p.m. local time on Thursday.

Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News quoted local media reports that Bitmez suffered from diabetes and had previously been treated with two stents in his heart.

“A graduate of Cairo’s Al Azhar University, Bitmez was the chairman of the Center for Islamic Union Research and had previously worked for Islamic non-governmental organizations, his parliament biography shows. He was married and a father of one,” Reuters added.