Turkish MP dies after collapsing during broadcasted speech in parliament

An opposition Turkish lawmaker has died on December 14 after having suffered a heart attack and collapsing in front of parliament as he finished a speech that was being broadcasted live.

As reported by the Hurriyet publication, Hasan Bitmez, 53, of the conservative Felicity Party, was delivering an address at the General Assembly of the Turkish parliament, criticising the government's policy toward Israel.

Hasan Bitmez, 54, a member of parliament from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) Party, died in Ankara City Hospital a couple of days after his collapse, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca told reporters in televised remarks.

“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 December 12 after placing a poster on the podium reading: “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP.”

The opposition figure graduated from Cairo’s Al-Azhar University, worked for Islamic nongovernmental groups and was chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research.