Can Turkey really reinstate the death penalty after the failed coup attempt? According to the European Union and many politicians, jurists and human rights activists, the answer is no. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Prime Minister Binali Yildirim, however, insist capital punishment could be brought back.
Since the failed putsch on July 15, both leaders have repeatedly spoken in favor of capital punishment, be it in media interviews or in speeches to angry crowds that continue to demonstrate in the streets. Immediately after the putsch, Yildirim was quick to reassure a crowd chanting slogans to restore the death penalty in the parliament's courtyard. "Your message has been taken. We'll do what is necessary." Meanwhile, Erdogan said he would readily approve any bill parliament that might pass to restore capital punishment. "In democracies, people have the say, and the people want the death penalty back," he told Germany's ARD television.