Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has raised the possibility of bringing back capital punishment on Turkey's agenda, suggesting that a majority of the public wants to see it back in force.

Many see it as a tactic to deflect demands for the release of Abdullah Ocalan, the convicted leader of the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), by the Peace and Democracy Party (BDP), Todays Zaman reported on Sunday.

Erdogan's remarks on Saturday came after he warned the hundreds of hunger strikers that their strike would not help in the release of Ocalan. The strikers are demanding an end to the isolation of Ocalan as one of their conditions.

Erdogan commented last week that the Turkish public is in favor of the reinstatement of capital punishment, abolished in 2004, in remarks intended to respond to the demand brought forward by PKK militants currently on a hunger strike in prison, as well as by BDP deputies, that Ocalan be released to house arrest from Imrali Island, where he is presently incarcerated.

Analysts take Erdogan's words not as an indication that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AK Party) is sincerely considering reinstating capital punishment but rather as a message to those making such demands that there is strong public support for such a policy, while demonstrating at the same time that Turkey will not tolerate a hunger strike being used as a political tool.

More than 600 inmates, most of whom are either facing charges or were convicted over terrorism-related charges such as membership of the PKK or the Kurdistan Communities' Union (KCK) -- an umbrella organization for all affiliated groups that is ranked above the PKK in the terrorist network's hierarchy according to Turkish prosecutors -- have been on a hunger strike for more than one-and-a-half months, demanding an end to the alleged isolation on an island in the Sea of Marmara of the PKK's jailed leader, Ocalan, who they claim is not allowed to see his lawyers or family members.

"Don't turn this [strike] into blackmail. We will not release the terrorist chief just because you say so or resort to such an action," Erdogan said at an annual meeting of his ruling AK Party, Hurriyet Daily newspaper reported on Sunday.

He then referred to the issue of capital punishment with regard to Ocalan.

Ocalan was captured in 1999 by Turkish agents in Kenyan capital Nairobi, brought back to Turkey, and sentenced to death. His death penalty was lifted as part of Turkey's campaign to join the EU and commuted to life in prison. Since then, he has been serving a life sentence on a remote prison on Imrali Island in the Marmara Sea.

"A death penalty was handed to a terrorist chief who was the cause of death for tens of thousands of people, but this country abolished the death penalty due to pressure from known places. He is now serving in Imrali because of the abolition of the death penalty," Erdogan said.

"Right now a lot of people say in public surveys that capital punishment should be reintroduced, because the relatives of the dead are hurt while others enjoy themselves at kebab parties," he added.

Turkey, a member of the Council of Europe since 1952 and a negotiating candidate for EU membership since 2005, abandoned the death penalty in practice in 1984. In 2002, Turkey abolished the death penalty in peacetime as part of a package of reforms aimed at preparing the country for European Union membership, and in all circumstances, including times of war, in 2004. The death penalty was replaced by life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.

A the same time, Erdogan blamed media for hypocrisy, saying 'some reports exxagerate the situation'. "The situation in prisons is under control," he assured.

On the other hand, PKK has been hurling death threats at intellectuals, journalists, writers and public opinion leaders who have called on hundreds of Kurdish inmates on a collective hunger strike across Turkish prisons to stop fasting, Todays Zaman reported on Sunday.

There have also been a large number of protests staged by BDP in support of the hunger strikes.

Earlier last week, Erdogan has made it clear that Ocalan's life term will not be commuted to house arrest and during a visit to Germany accused the protesters of putting on a show.