The recent statement of the Prime Minister has constituted an indication to reintroduce capital punishment. We hope EU will play an effective role to prevent such a development to take place. The text of the statement is as follows:
Prime Minister Erdogan said during AKP’s annual meeting on 3rd of November 2012:
“A death penalty was given to a terrorist chief who had caused the death for tens of thousands of people. However, this country abolished the death penalty due to the pressure from some well-known circles. He is now staying in İmralı as a result of the abolition of the death penalty. In public surveys, a lot of people say that death penalty should be reintroduced”
The above mentioned statement contains explicit criticism of the abolition of death penalty and manifests a desire to reintroduce it. This is in clear contradiction with what he had said in 2002. He had then stated that “death penalty should be abolished and we are ready
to support the Government.”
CHP EU Representation - Brussels 