Turkish lawmaker collapsed in Parliament on Tuesday due to a heart attack after a fiery speech in which he criticised Israel and said that the Jewish country would not be able to "escape the wrath of Allah". This comes as Turkey has publicly condemned Israel's aggression in Gaza against the Hamas militant group, which has killed thousands of people.
According to The Times of Israel, the 53-year-old Hasan Bitmez of the conservative Felicity Party delivered an address at the General Assembly of the Turkish Parliament, saying that "we can perhaps hide from our conscience but not from history". In a pointed reference to Israel, Bitmez said: "You will not escape the wrath of Allah."
He then saluted all of the lawmakers present at the Parliament immediately before collapsing to the ground due to a heart attack, with his head hitting the floor. Parliamentarians rushed to his aid and another Turkish MP Turhan Comez, a licenced surgeon, gave him CPR in a resuscitation attempt.
He was taken out of the Assembly to a hospital, where he was admitted to intensive care in "extremely critical and serious" condition, according to reports. Bitmez also reportedly suffered from diabetes.
Bitmez's Felicity Party regularly criticises the ruling Turkish party for its 'moderate stance' on Gaza. The lawmaker himself was criticising President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's response to the Israel-Hamas war, saying that the government was as much responsible for every Israeli bomb dropped on Gaza,
Turkey's stance on Israel
Turkey was in the midst of efforts to warm ties with Israel before the deadly Hamas attack on Israel on October 7. However, as the war went on, Erdogan backtracked from his stance and made fiery statements condemning Israel's action in Gaza and warning the state of a "heavy price" if it attempted to eliminate Hamas members in Turkey.
Weeks after the war began, Erdogan lambasted Israel for its "aggression" against Hamas in Gaza and called, "Tel Aviv is 'acting like a terrorist organisation' and 'committing crimes against humanity'". According to Erdogan, Hamas 'is not a terror group', and called it a 'patriotic organisation that defends its territory and people'.
After Erdogan threatened to declare Israel a war criminal, Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen announced that the country was pulling its diplomats from Turkey to "reassess relations" with Ankara. "In light of the escalating rhetoric from Turkey, I have instructed the return of diplomatic representatives from Turkey in order to reassess Israel-Turkey relations,” Foreign Minister Eli Cohen said in a statement.
The Israel-Hamas war
Israel's retaliation following the October 7 attack has brought unprecedented death and destruction to the impoverished coastal enclave, with much of northern Gaza obliterated, more than 18,000 Palestinians killed and over 80 per cent of the population of 2.3 million pushed from their homes. At least 113 Israeli soldiers have died in the ground operation, says the military.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday warned that Israel was losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza, speaking out in unusually strong language just hours before the United Nations demanded a humanitarian cease-fire in the Israel-Hamas war.
“They're starting to lose that support by indiscriminate bombing that takes place,” he said. He recounted a familiar anecdote about inscribing on a photo with Netanyahu decades ago, “Bibi, I don't agree with a damn thing you have to say.”
Biden specifically called out Itamar Ben-Gvir, the leader of a far-right Israeli party and the minister of national security in Netanyahu's governing coalition, who opposes a two-state solution and has called for Israel to reassert control over all of the West Bank and Gaza.
(with inputs from AP)
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