A Turkish MP dies after suffering a heart attack in parliament.

Two days after having a heart attack and falling in front of parliament as he was finishing a speech criticizing the government’s attitude toward Israel, a Turkish legislator who was a member of the opposition passed away on Thursday.

A member of parliament from the opposition Felicity (Saadet) Party named Hasan Bitmez, who was 54 years old, passed away in Ankara City Hospital, according to statements made by the Minister of Health Fahrettin Koca, which were shown on television.

According to his biography in the Egyptian parliament, Bitmez graduated from Al Azhar University in Cairo. He also served as the chairman of the Centre for Islamic Union Research and had previously worked for Islamic non-governmental organizations.

A married man, he was the parent of a single child.

On the official broadcast of Parliament, Bitmez collapsed to the ground after standing on the stage in front of the general assembly on Tuesday.

Despite the current conflict in Gaza and the government’s loud verbal criticism of Israel’s military bombardment, he had been criticizing President Tayyip Erdogan’s ruling AK Party (AKP) for Turkey’s continued commerce with Israel. He had been doing this based on Turkey’s continuous trade with Israel.

You are allowing ships to travel to Israel, and you are calling it trade without any guilt… After putting a banner on the stage that said “Murderer Israel; collaborator AKP,” Bitmez remarked in his address, “You are Israel’s accomplice.” These words were spoken after Bitmez placed the banner.

“You are complicit in the killing of Palestinians, and you have the blood of Palestinians on your hands.” In the course of the discussion over the budget for the foreign ministry in 2024, he told the MPs that they were contributing to each bomb that Israel dropped on Gaza.

Following the speech’s conclusion, Bitmez unexpectedly slumped backward on the floor, prompting other members of parliament to rush out of their seats to assist him.

Following the event, Koca stated that an angiography had shown that both of the central veins in his heart were saturated with blood.

According to what Koca had stated on Tuesday, “His heart stopped beating, then he was resuscitated in parliament and transferred within twenty minutes to the hospital,” where he was kept alive by medical apparatus.

The Islamist Saadet Party, a minor party, joined the major opposition coalition in May and supported Kemal Kilicdaroglu, who was running against Erdogan in the presidential elections. Erdogan ultimately won.

As a result of the coalition’s agreement, Saadet MPs like Bitmez could obtain seats in parliament by appearing on the lists of the CHP, the main opposition party.