Turkey detains 40 suspected IS militants in raids
Turkey's state-run news agency says police have detained some 40 suspected Islamic State group militants in raids in southern Turkey.…
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday warned
the European Union he would sign a law bringing back the death penalty if it
was approved by parliament.
“Democracy, it’s respecting the people’s will,”
Erdogan said in a speech in Istanbul.
“If the people say ‘we want the death penalty’… and
this goes to parliament and parliament passes it and it comes to me, I declare
I will approve this,” he added.
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Erdogan was speaking hours after he had rattled Europe by
threatening to open Turkey’s borders to allow migrants to reach the EU, in a
move that would tear up a landmark deal signed in March that has reduced the
refugee flow.
He made his remarks in response to the cheering crowds’
chants of “we want the death penalty”, an oft-repeated call during
his rallies since the July 15 failed coup.
“When you want the death penalty, the gentlemen are
uncomfortable,” he said, apparently referring to EU officials.
Erdogan said that if he signed the death penalty back into
law, it would likely be blocked by the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR),
but this did not concern him.
“I say, it doesn’t bother me. Because the European
Court of Human Rights gives a lot of decisions, we know it very well… this
people’s will, yes this is a will that must be respected by everyone.”
EU officials have repeatedly made clear that bringing back
the death penalty would end Turkey’s bid for membership, which sets abolishing
capital punishment as a condition.
Turkey completely abolished the death penalty in 2004 as part
of its accession process.
The move meant the 1999 death sentence for Kurdish
separatist leader Abdullah Ocalan was commuted to life behind bars.
No judicial executions have taken place in the country since
left-wing militant Hidir Aslan was hanged on October 25, 1984 in the wake of
the 1980 military coup.
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