The crackdown on alleged supporters of Islamic cleric Fethullah Gulen continues in Turkey, where police have arrested 136 out of a total of 173 court staff at the Palace of Justice, the nation’s biggest courthouse..
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The case dates back to September 2015, even before the failed coup, and had been launched by the Usak prosecutor’s office into the financial assets of FETO.
On Tuesday, Turkish prosecutors requested two life sentences and a further 1,900 years in prison for Gulen.
“A person dies only once when executed”, Yildirim told ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MPs in parliament. “That is an impartial and fair trial”, Yildirim said.
The prospect of the death penalty being restored had stunned the European Union, which makes the abolition of capital punishment an unnegotiable condition for joining the bloc.
“There are tougher ways to die than the death (penalty) for them”.
Erdogan said on Tuesday it was only natural to discuss whether to introduce the death penalty after the botched coup, and blasted Europe for its criticism.
Western criticism of the purge and Ankara’s demands USA officials extradite Gulen have already frayed ties with Washington and the European Union, increasing tensions over an EU deal with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants. “We are not going to show anyone any mercy”, he said.
Turkey declared a three-month state of emergency on July 21.
Police began searches in the Uskudar and Umraniye districts of Istanbul, including buildings belonging to an unnamed holding company, the agency said. More than 26,000 people were arrested after parts of the military tried to take control of the country, and another 82,000 were dismissed or suspended from their positions, a lot of them government workers and school employees.
Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had said the death toll as a result of the military coup attempt stood at 246 people, excluding the coup plotters, and over 2,000 people were wounded.
He vowed this month to cut off the revenues of businesses linked to Gulen, describing them as “nests of terrorism” and promising no mercy in rooting them out.
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Under previous emergency rule decrees, Turkey had already dismissed thousands of security force members as well as ordering the closure of thousands of private schools, charities and other institutions suspected of links to Gulen.
