Türkiye
Death penalty and prisoners' rights · Archive since 1999
Data card
- Legal status
- Abolitionist
- Executions recorded in 2026
- 0
- Executions recorded in 2025
- 0
- First news item in the archive
- JANUARY 1, 1999 · In Turkey offenses punishable by death under ordinary...
- News items in the archive
- 321
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 321 news items on Türkiye, from 1999 to today.
Latest news
- DECEMBER 20, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December 20, the European Parliament, which has...
On December 20, the European Parliament, which has not warmly welcomed Turkey's candidate status, called on Turkey to abolish the death sentence
- DECEMBER 16, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December 16, the People's Democracy Party (Hadep)...
On December 16, the People's Democracy Party (Hadep) gave a qualified welcome to a speech by Mesut Yilmaz, leader of the Motherland Party, in which he said that Turks and Kurds had an equal right to democracy and freedoms
- DECEMBER 13, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December 13, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Chair of the EU/Turkey...
On December 13, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Chair of the EU/Turkey Joint Parliamentary Committee, welcomed the statements made during the EU Helsinki Summit by Bulent Ecevit on the abolition of the death penalty, saying he hoped this would be the "first step towa
- DECEMBER 11, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December ll, the Council of Ministers of the European...
On December ll, the Council of Ministers of the European Union meeting in Helsinki formalized Turkey's candidacy for membership of the Union
- DECEMBER 4, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December 4, the conservative National Movement Party...
On December 4, the conservative National Movement Party (MHP), which is a member of the ruling coalition, said that it was in favor of the ratification by the Parliament of Ocalan's death by hanging
- DECEMBER 1, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On December 1, the European Court of Human Rights which...
On December 1, the European Court of Human Rights which accepted the application of Ocalan's lawyers for a cautionary measure, asked Turkey to postpone his death penalty until the procedures were finalized at the Court
- NOVEMBER 25, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On November 25, the Court of Appeal confirmed Ocalan's...
On November 25, the Court of Appeal confirmed Ocalan's death sentence
- SEPTEMBER 10, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On September 10, State Minister Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik...
On September 10, State Minister Mehmet Ali Irtemcelik met with IHD Chairman Hunsu Ondul and IHD Board of Directors member Osman Baydemir to discuss Turkey's drive to improve its human rights record
- JULY 1, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In July, the Human Rights Association (IHD) started...
In July, the Human Rights Association (IHD) started a signature collection campaign in a bid to abolish the death sentence
- JUNE 29, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On June 29, the Presidency of the European Union Council...
On June 29, the Presidency of the European Union Council noted that "in light of Turkey's aspirations to membership in the EU, it should be emphasized that non-application of the death penalty is one of the shared values, and consequently part of the "acq
- JUNE 23, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On June 23, Ocalan was sentenced to death
On June 23, Ocalan was sentenced to death
- JUNE 18, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On June 18, the Turkish Parliament approved an amendment...
On June 18, the Turkish Parliament approved an amendment to the Constitution that eliminates military judges from the Tribunals for State Security, one of which was trying Ocalan
- JUNE 7, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On June 7, the Diyarbakir State Security Court No
On June 7, the Diyarbakir State Security Court No
- MAY 31, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On May 31, at the opening of the trial to which only...
On May 31, at the opening of the trial to which only 12 international observers and very few journalists were admitted, Ocalan urged PKK guerrillas to lay down their arms and to declare that they were prepared to serve the Turkish State
- APRIL 18, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On April 18, the Party of the Democratic Left of Prime...
On April 18, the Party of the Democratic Left of Prime Minister Bulet Ecevit, the man responsible for Ocalan's arrest, and the Movement for Nationalist Action of the extreme right which asked for the death penalty for the Kurd leader, triumphed in the ele
- APRIL 1, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In late April, Turkey extradited two Uzbek dissidents,...
In late April, Turkey extradited two Uzbek dissidents, Rustem Mametkulov and Zaynuttin Askarov, after receiving guarantees from Tashkent that the death penalty would not be demanded for them (see: Uzbekistan)
- MARCH 1, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In March, the extradition of Mohammed Abdel Monem Abbas,...
In March, the extradition of Mohammed Abdel Monem Abbas, 26, who was arrested in Malta in 1998 following an Interpol request, was requested by Turkey, so that he could face charges of murdering Briton Edgar Fernandes, 37, a London librarian who had been o
- FEBRUARY 15, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On February 15, the Turkish Secret Service arrested...
On February 15, the Turkish Secret Service arrested Ocalan while he was on his way to the airport, and the next day he was already a prisoner in the island penitentiary of Imrali, in the Sea of Marmara, where he was the only inmate with 5,000 guards keepi
- JANUARY 29, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On January 29, the request to extradite Turkish citizen,...
On January 29, the request to extradite Turkish citizen, Yakup Kyursat Yilmaz, was rejected by the District Court of Varna in Bulgaria because he faces the death sentence in Turkey (see: Bulgaria)
- JANUARY 16, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
On January 16, Ocalan left Italy in search of a country...
On January 16, Ocalan left Italy in search of a country that would take him in
- JANUARY 1, 1999TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In Turkey offenses punishable by death under ordinary...
In Turkey offenses punishable by death under ordinary criminal law are aggravated murder and crimes against the unity and integrity of the State