Death penalty not on Turkish PM's agenda

The death penalty is not an issue currently on the government’s agenda, according to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.

The prime minister spoke at the Ministry of Environment and Forestry’s solid waste collection vehicle distribution ceremony, where he said that the issue of capital punishment "is being discussed right now, but is not on our agenda."

The murders of three children in Kayseri and the recent killing of a 9-year-old boy in Istanbul have rekindled debates over whether capital punishment should be reinstated in Turkey.

President Abdullah Gül said Tuesday that capital punishment was abolished in Turkey but noted that the country does have aggravated life imprisonment, which he said was similar to the death penalty.

Great Union Party, or BBP, leader Yalçın Topçu called Tuesday for the reinstatement of capital punishment for those involved in immoral and separatist terrorist activities. He launched a signature campaign in Ankara on the issue.

Capital punishment was abolished in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe as well as in Turkey with a constitutional amendment in 2001.

As for the 103 service vehicles handed out at the ceremony, Erdoğan emphasized that they were distributed according to need and not municipality or political party differences.

"This is not an electoral investment. We’ve done this before, and this is a continuation of that project. It took us until today to prepare the vehicles," said Erdoğan.

Daily Sözcü earlier claimed that the vehicles would be distributed to government-run municipalities.


/Hurriyet Daily News/