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
- JANUARY 30, 2001TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Turkey's justice minister Hikmet Sami Turk said might...
Turkey's justice minister Hikmet Sami Turk said might have to review a stay of execution for Abdullah Ocalan if he continued making "provocative" public statements
- JANUARY 29, 2001TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The European Union's term president, Sweden's Foreign...
The European Union's term president, Sweden's Foreign Minister Anna Lindh, asked Turkey to complete the political reforms regarding also the abolishment of the death penalty
- JANUARY 29, 2001TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Austrian Member of the European Parliament Hannes Swoboda,...
Austrian Member of the European Parliament Hannes Swoboda, the special rapporteur of the European Parliament for the EU partnership with Turkey, visited Ankara and said that the abolition of the death penalty by 2004 and a stop to capital punishment in th
- JANUARY 4, 2001TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The terrorist organization, PKK [Kurdistan Workers'...
The terrorist organization, PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party], has executed seven persons for "criticizing the leader
- OCTOBER 25, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
[Turkish] Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that...
[Turkish] Justice Minister Hikmet Sami Turk said that the "annulment of capital punishment is an obligatory condition for whole EU countries
- OCTOBER 17, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Akyn Birdal, the "Honourary Chairman" of the Human...
Akyn Birdal, the "Honourary Chairman" of the Human Rights Association (IHD) held a press briefing together with the Joint Parliamentary Commission Co-Chairman Daniel Cohn Bendit and IHD Chairman Husnu Ondul in the European Parliament building, in which he
- OCTOBER 16, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In the build-up to the publication of the Accession...
In the build-up to the publication of the Accession Partnership for Turkey the European Union indicated that the removal of the death penalty from the statute books would not be a precondition for the opening of full membership talks with Turkey
- OCTOBER 12, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Justice Minister Turk, responding to a question about...
Justice Minister Turk, responding to a question about capital punishment , said that in the Justice Commission's draft a new article replaced Article 312
- OCTOBER 6, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Walter Schwimmer, the Secretary General of the Council...
Walter Schwimmer, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe (COE), said that he believed Turkey would take the necessary steps to abolish capital punishment
- OCTOBER 2, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
In his address to the parliament at the start of the...
In his address to the parliament at the start of the new legislative year President Ahmet Necdet Sezer urged that constitutional reforms be carried out in order to see the death penalty abolished
- SEPTEMBER 22, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
The Turkish Council of Ministers adopted a report prepared...
The Turkish Council of Ministers adopted a report prepared by the Human Rights Supreme Board which foresees the abolition of the capital punishment as a reference document
- SEPTEMBER 9, 2000TürkiyeDEATH PENALTY
Omer Izgi, the acting Chairman of the Nationalist Action...
Omer Izgi, the acting Chairman of the Nationalist Action Party (MHP) parliamentary group said that the MHP would not allow the abolition of the death penalty because of conditions in Turkey
- 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
- 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