Following support expressed by Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) Chairman Devlet Bahçeli for the government’s intention to reinstate capital punishment in Turkey, the prime minister said same day that the government would put forward the necessary proposal to restore capital punishment, which was abolished in 2004 as part of EU reforms.
Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım said they would take Bahçeli’s idea under advisement and would move forward with their proposal, as it requires an amendment to the constitution. “If agreement can be reached with other parties as well,” said Yıldırım, a restricted death penalty could be introduced. According to him, the death penalty proposal stems from the nation’s desire to punish coup plotters.
Devlet Bahçeli earlier on Tuesday called on the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government to join forces to reintroduce the death penalty in Turkey.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Saturday that legislation to reinstate capital punishment, which was abolished in 2004, will soon be taken to Parliament by the AKP.
“If the AKP is ready [to bring the death penalty back], the MHP is already ready. I am telling Mr. Prime Minister, come on, let’s finish this job together. The MHP will do what is necessary if the proposal or draft on the death penalty comes to the parliament floor,” Bahçeli said as he spoke at his party’s parliamentary group meeting on Tuesday.
Erdoğan and the government have been pushing for reinstatement of the death penalty since a failed coup attempt on July 15.