Erdogan Vows To Reinstate Death Penalty In Turkey

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Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has vowed to approve the reinstatement of capital punishment in Turkey.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he would approve the death penalty “without any hesitation ”and expects the Turkish parliament to restore it after a referendum next month to expand his executive powers.

He also implied that it could then be applied to the coup plotters who tried to overthrow the Turkish government last year.

EU foreign ministers had warned after the failed coup that the restoration of capital punishment would block accession talks with Turkey.

RT reports:

“Who opened fire on their brothers in arms that night? Who attacked their own people with tanks and artillery, bombed the parliament, the presidential complex, and headquarters of the Special Forces? They are all busted. Our people should be at ease. Those murderers and their supporters will get the penalty they deserve,” he said during the rally.

He went on to praise the actions of the Turkish people during the coup attempt, noting, that “thanks to the support of our people, we were able to push back the attempt and get rid of the putschists,” the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency reports.

The president also rallied support for the proposed constitutional changes. He said the amendment would ensure that the Turkish political system would remain stable and secure, and be similar to the presidential systems of the “world’s strongest nations.”

“If we aim to be among the top 10 economies [by 2023], we need a system through which we can compete with these countries,” he said, as cited by Anadolu.

He once again stated that Ankara will respond appropriately to the actions of the Netherlands other European countries which banned Turkish officials from attending rallies in support of the upcoming constitutional referendum.

“This [actions] have no place in international law,” he said.

“If you’ll continue like this, you’ll have the necessary response from Turkey,” the president warned the western nations.

Pro-referendum rallies, which were also canceled in Germany, Austria and Switzerland provoked an angry reaction in Turkey, who accused the EU of “selective democracy and xenophobia.” Turkish officials charged that the actions of Germany and the Netherlands were comparable to Nazi policies.

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