News / Turkey

Turkey’s Erdogan hints at reintroduction of death penalty

Monday, 18 July 2016 6:04 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 18 July 2016 6:05 AM ]

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan (C) and former President Abdullah Gul (C-R) attend the funeral of a victim of the recent coup attempt in Istanbul, July 17, 2016. (Photo by AFP)

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has hinted that the country may reintroduce the death penalty to allow the execution of those involved in a recent failed coup in the country.

“In democracies, decisions are made based on what the people say. I think our government will speak with the opposition and come to a decision,” he said on Sunday to a crowd of supporters calling for capital punishment for putschists.

“We cannot delay this anymore because in this country, those who launch a coup will have to pay the price for it,” the Turkish president said. He was speaking at the funeral of a victim of the coup attempt in Istanbul.

An attempted coup in Turkey began on Friday night and the violence and fighting between the putschists and government loyalists dragged into Saturday, when the coup was largely defeated.

A total of 290 people were killed in the attempted coup d’état in Turkey.

At least 6,000 people have been arrested across the country after the failed coup, with the crackdown is expected to be widened, Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag said on Sunday.

The restoration of the death penalty, which was annulled in Turkey in 2004 under reforms aimed at joining the European Union (EU), would magnify differences between Turkey and the EU in the already-stalled talks over Ankara’s accession to the bloc.

The crackdown that has been launched in Turkey following the coup, including the mass arrests of suspects, has raised international concern.

France has already cautioned Erdogan not to use the recent failed coup in the country as a “blank check” to silence his opponents.

Austria, too, has said the potential move by Turkey would be “unacceptable.”

“The introduction of the death penalty would of course be absolutely unacceptable,” Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz said in an interview published on Monday. “There must be no arbitrary purges, no criminal sanctions outside the framework of the rule of law and the justice system.”

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