“President Erdogan is reported to be considering a referendum on the issue of bringing back the death penalty in Turkey,” said Yves Cruchten (Luxembourg, SOC), General Rapporteur on abolition of the death penalty for the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
“I would like to recall that that no executions are currently carried out in the 47 member states of the Council of Europe. Rejection of capital punishment is a basic principle of our organisation,” he pointed out.
“PACE has helped turn Europe into a death penalty free continent, by making a moratorium on executions and a commitment to abolition a condition for accession. The Assembly will not accept any backsliding on this. President Erdogan should be under no illusion: reintroducing the death penalty would be simply incompatible with Turkey’s continued membership of the Council of Europe.”
