Our thoughts now must be with the people of Turkey

The government of Turkey has been warned that reintroducing the death penalty to punish opponents of President Erdogan (or for any other reason) would end its bid to join the European Union, the EU Observer reports. Read the article here.

The foreign ministers of EU member states said in a joint statement yesterday: “The EU recalls that the unequivocal rejection of the death penalty is an essential element of the Union acquis [legal codex].”

Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, said yesterday: “It’s up to Turkey to consider if being a candidate country is still something that falls into their desires and aspirations”.

But she added that the foreign ministers of EU member states did not discuss at their meeting whether to suspend Turkey-EU accession talks, or whether Turkey is still safe enough for Greece to send back refugees there under the EU-Turkey migration deal.

Mogherini told the press that the EU continues to be “friendly” towards Turkey, but that its “friendly attitude is first of all toward the people of Turkey”.

“The numbers we’ve seen in terms of arrests and also in terms of victims [of violence] … is something that concerns us”, she said.

The Turkish government has rounded up for punishment or fired from their posts thousands of judges, prosecutors, civil servants and soldiers in a three-day purge since the failed coup last Friday night/Saturday morning.

Amateur and press photographs published on the internet show mobs lynching people while the police look on and do nothing to stop the attacks. Erdogan himself has been urging people out onto the streets to show support for him since the coup began. Instead of appealing for calm and an end to the violence, he has done the opposite and incited mobs.

Akin Ozturk, a former Turkish air force commander, told the state-run Anadolu news agency that he had planned the coup. His head, face and upper body showed signs of torture in his brief TV appearance.

Steffen Seibert, chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesman, said in Berlin that Merkel had telephoned Erdogan.

“A country that has the death penalty can’t be a member of the European Union and the introduction of the death penalty in Turkey would therefore mean the end of accession negotiations”, Seibert said.

Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, also rang the Turkish president to warn him against reprisals and the death penalty.

“Being part of a unique community of values, it is essential for Turkey, like all other allies, to ensure full respect for democracy and its institutions, the constitutional order, the rule of law and fundamental freedoms”, Stoltenberg told the press afterwards.

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