Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said capital punishment...

Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit said capital punishment would be lifted and that he did not have any doubts about that issue.
Ecevit stated that all parties wanted Turkey to become a full EU member and one of the sine qua non conditions of that membership was the lifting of capital punishment.
Ecevit said, "Turkish public does not want capital punishment. This is clear. I think that capital punishment will be abolished without so much delay. However, EU member countries should take into consideration this fact. Turkey has faced so many problems and suffered from so many troubles due to terrorism. But, despite all these, Turkey has not carried out any capital punishment. This means that capital punishment has actually been lifted. It can take some time to legally lift it."