MHP leader lends support to PM on reinstating capital punishment

ANKARA

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Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader Devlet Bahçeli has expressed support for Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s call to take the debate on reinstalling capital punishment to parliament. 

“The demand for capital punishment is being discussed a lot. If the AKP [ruling Justice and Development Party] is ready, we are in as well. We would also consider giving this punishment and do whatever necessary,” said Bahçeli during his party’s weekly parliamentary group meeting on July 19.

The debate on reinstalling capital punishment has heated up amid demands from angry crowds during anti-coup attempt protests in Turkey. Prime Minister Yıldırım has stressed the importance of a “calm discussion” and Ankara’s European partners have expressed their concerns about such a step. 

Yıldırım had stated on July 15 that his government “could not remain indifferent” to demands for reinstating the death penalty to punish coup plotters, but stressed that the issue must be debated in parliament.