MHP leader urges death penalty bill amid EU tensions

ANKARA

The opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) on Tuesday urged the ruling Justice and Development (AK) Party to submit a bill to reinstate capital punishment amid tensions with the European Union, which does not allow the death penalty among member states.

"The AK Party should submit a bill on capital punishment to the Turkish parliament as soon as possible now that the European Parliament does not want it and uses it as an excuse to end relations [with Turkey]," Devlet Bahceli told MHP parliamentary deputies, referring to last week’s non-binding EP vote calling for a freeze on Turkey’s EU accession talks.

Turkey is an EU membership candidate, and it abolished the death penalty in 2004.

Since the July 15 defeated coup, which martyred 248 people and wounded nearly 2,000 others, many officials have called for the death penalty to be reinstated for the putschists.

Days after the coup, on July 19, Bahceli voiced support for bringing back the death penalty, and on Nov. 1, he said his party would support the AK Party government if it chooses to go forward.

The European Union has warned Ankara that reinstating capital punishment would automatically end Turkey’s membership process.

Bahceli also said that far from wanting to join the EU or the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Turkey has a different goal.

"Neither the European Union nor the Shanghai Cooperation; we say the ‘Turkish Union’ until the end," he told the MHP parliamentary group meeting.

Prime Minister Binali Yildirim said Friday that Turkey wants to improve relations with the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, adding that Turkey's relations with it are neither a threat nor a challenge to the European Union.