Türkiye
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1998
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- NOVEMBER 12, 1998 · On November 12, 1998, Kurd leader Abdullah Ocalan was...
- News items in the archive
- 376
Source: Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026.
Türkiye is classified as Abolitionist in the Hands Off Cain database, updated to 2026. In 2026 the association recorded 0 executions in the country, against 0 the year before. The archive holds 376 news items on Türkiye, from 1998 to today.
Latest news
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Ankara State Security Court (DGM) No
Ankara State Security Court (DGM) No
- SEPTEMBER 7, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Seven PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] prisoners were...
Seven PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] prisoners were sentenced to death at a trial at the Erzurum DGM (State Security Court)
- SEPTEMBER 6, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The chairman of the Supreme Court of Appeal Sami Selcuk...
The chairman of the Supreme Court of Appeal Sami Selcuk described the death penalty as "a primitive punishment" which "does not give the right to the convicted to return to the society again"
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In Istanbul, a mothers' group released doves and called...
In Istanbul, a mothers' group released doves and called for a negotiated solution to the 16-year-long war between Turkish security forces and the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in southeastern Turkey
- SEPTEMBER 1, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Fehriye Erdal, a Turkish woman wanted for murder in...
Fehriye Erdal, a Turkish woman wanted for murder in her homeland will be tried in Belgium on weapons charges, Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt said
- AUGUST 29, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament accepted a statute governing...
The European Parliament accepted a statute governing Turkey's preparations for the accession process
- JULY 24, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Istanbul State Security No 3court handed down the...
The Istanbul State Security No 3court handed down the death penalty for "attempting to undermine the constitutional order by use of arms," in the trial of 41 members of the illegal Islamic Movement Organization who were accused of committing a number of h
- JULY 20, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Justice Ministry commission made amendments to...
The Justice Ministry commission made amendments to the Turkish Penal Code (TCK) preliminary draft it had prepared in 1997
- JULY 16, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Democratic Left Party and Motherland Party have...
The Democratic Left Party and Motherland Party have developed a formula to persuade another ruling partner, the Nationalist Action Party, to accept the abolition of the death sentence from the Turkish Penal Code
- JULY 15, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Mesut...
Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and State Minister Mesut Yilmaz has said that a bill to abolish the death penalty was to be put on the agenda in the new legislative term of the Turkish Parliament
- JULY 14, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Develet Bahceli, deputy prime minister and leader of...
Develet Bahceli, deputy prime minister and leader of the Nationalist Action Party, said that it was too early to abolish capital punishment in Turkey
- JULY 12, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Supreme Court of Appeals revoked the sentences...
The Supreme Court of Appeals revoked the sentences passed on Unal Osman Agaoglu and Bunyamin Adanali who were sentenced to death on seven counts of murder for the murder of even students in Ankara in 1978 in a case known as the Bahcelievler massacre
- JULY 6, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Beyhan Aslan, Deputy Chairman of the Motherland Party...
Beyhan Aslan, Deputy Chairman of the Motherland Party (ANAP) Group said he supported a draft law which called for the abolishment of capital punishment
- JULY 5, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that "The government's...
Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said that "The government's initiative is not a must to abolish death penalty
- JULY 3, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The judge who passed the death sentence on Abdullah...
The judge who passed the death sentence on Abdullah Ocalan said that capital punishment would definitely be abolished in Turkey in 2000
- JUNE 21, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that capital...
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that capital punishment can be abolished if it is removed from the framework of Article 125 of the Turkish Penal Code [TCK], which formed the basis of the conviction of terrorist Abdullah Ocalan and many other Kurdis
- JUNE 21, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said...
National Defense Minister Sabahattin Cakmakoglu said that his office would take up the death sentence handed down to terrorist leader Abdullah Ocalan one more time
- JUNE 17, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Yildirim Akbulut, Speaker of the Turkish Grand National...
Yildirim Akbulut, Speaker of the Turkish Grand National Assembly [TBMM], said that abolishing the death penalty was not as easy as one might think at the moment
- JUNE 16, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
A Turkish court sentenced 33 Moslem activists to death...
A Turkish court sentenced 33 Moslem activists to death for their role in an Islamist riot in 1993 in which 37 people were killed
- JUNE 13, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The 1st Ankara DGM [State Security Court] sentenced...
The 1st Ankara DGM [State Security Court] sentenced DHKP-C [Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-Front] member Cemalettin Polat to death for "attempting to change the constitution of the Turkish Republic through the force of arms"
- JUNE 13, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Five suspects were sentenced to death in the case on...
Five suspects were sentenced to death in the case on the terrorist organization TKP/ML [Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist-Turkish Workers and Peasants]
- JUNE 12, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Industry and Commerce Minister Ahmet Kenan Tanrikulu...
The Industry and Commerce Minister Ahmet Kenan Tanrikulu said that given the current conditions in Turkey, it was too early to abolish the death sentence
- JUNE 10, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Virtue Party [FP] leader Recai Kutan said that "Ocalan...
Virtue Party [FP] leader Recai Kutan said that "Ocalan must be executed"
- JUNE 6, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The European Parliament said after talks with Turkey...
The European Parliament said after talks with Turkey that Ankara's failure to abolish the death penalty remained an obstacle to better relations as it seeks membership of the European Union
- JUNE 3, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, in a statement from death...
PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan, in a statement from death row, said that a general amnesty must be legislated, so that arms could be laid down
- MAY 31, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Izmir State Security court handed down the death...
The Izmir State Security court handed down the death penalty on six of the 22 alleged members of the far-left urban guerrilla group Revolutionary People's Liberation Party-The indictment said they shot the soldiers in fighting with security forces in 1998
- MAY 30, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Belgium's refusal to extradite Fehriye Erdal [charged...
Belgium's refusal to extradite Fehriye Erdal [charged with murdering a Turkish businessman] to Turkey rekindled the debate over the death penalty
- MAY 27, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said Belgium's decision...
Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said Belgium's decision not to extradite Fehriye Erdal that "shows that Turkey has to discuss its punishment system, including the death penalty, calmly"
- MAY 26, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt announced that...
Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt announced that the government would not extradite Fehriye Erdal, one of the suspects of the assassinated Turkish industrialist Ozdemir Sabanci, to Turkey, overruling a Supreme Court decision
- MAY 16, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Walter Schwimmer, the Secretary General of the Council...
Walter Schwimmer, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (CE) said that CE welcomed election of Ahmet Necdet Sezer as the 10th President of Turkey