PERSON: Hasan Bitmez (deceased)

Hasan Bitmez (15 December 1969 – 14 December 2023) was a Turkish politician who was a member of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for the Felicity Party.

Born in the town of Alucra on 15 December 1969, Bitmez attended Gebze Imam-Hatip High School in Istanbul, and went to college at Al-Azhar University. He was married and had one child.

On 12 December 2023, Bitmez collapsed from a heart attack in parliament, moments after finishing a speech denouncing Israel (7-8 seconds according to digital clock seen in the recording.) during the 2023 Israel–Hamas war and saying that Israel “will suffer the wrath of Allah”. He died at Ankara Bilkent City Hospital two days later, on 14 December at the age of 53, one day before his 54th birthday.

Hasan Bitmez is the fourth MP in the history of Turkey to have died during or after an event that took place in the Assembly, following Halid Karsıalan, Mehmet Abdurrezak Ceylan, and Mehmet Fevzi Şıhanlıoğlu. Following his death, the Felicity and Future Alliance failed to maintain the 20-deputy quota to unify, and it subsequently fell apart.

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