Turkish President Erdogan said on the 29th of October that the restoration of the death penalty would be submitted to Parliament, adding that the criticisms made about it by Western countries “do not count”. During a speech in Ankara, in response to the crowd chanting “we want the death penalty” for the authors of the failed coup in July, Erdogan said: “Our government will submit it to Parliament and I am convinced that Parliament will approve it, then I will ratify it. ”
The death penalty in peacetime was abolished in 2001 (while hanging Abdullah Ocalan, who had just been brought to Turkey, was discussed) and the death penalty in wartime was abolished in 2004 in a relative consensus. More than 35,000 people were arrested in Turkey and a total of 82,000 have been investigated since the attempted coup on the 15th of July. Out of those who were investigated, 26,000 had all charges dropped.
