A Turkish opposition legislator has died, two days after he suffered a heart attack and collapsed in front of parliament.
Hasan Bitmez, a member of parliament from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) Party, died in Ankara City Hospital, on Thursday, December 14, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.
The 54-year-old father of one slumped on Tuesday, December 12, moments after he finished a speech criticising the government’s policy toward Israel.
“You allow ships to go to Israel, and you shamelessly call it trade. … You are Israel’s accomplice,” Bitmez said in his speech targeting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s Justice and Development Party (AK Party) on Tuesday after placing a poster on the podium reading: “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.”
“Even if you escape the torm£nt of history, you will not be able to escape the wrath of God,” he said at the end of the 20-minute speech before collapsing at the lectern.
