Erdogan attacks EU, promises to bring back death penalty
A defiant President Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday stepped up his attack on the European Union, saying Turkey had to go its own way and vowing to bring back the death penalty if parliament passes it.
Erdogan, who was at the opening ceremony for a memorial dedicated to the roughly 250 people who died during last year’s failed coup, accused Brussels of “messing about” with Turkey’s decades-long bid to join the bloc.
The speech, in front of the presidential palace in Ankara , wound up a marathon session of public appearances by Erdogan in both the capital and Istanbul to mark the anniversary of the failed coup. “The stance of the European Union is clear to see... 54 years have passed and they are still messing us about,” he said, citing what he said was Brussels’ failure to keep promises on everything from a visa deal to aid for Syrian migrants. “We will sort things out for ourselves, there’s no other option.”
Some 150,000 people have been sacked or suspended from their jobs and more than 50,000 detained on suspicion of links to the US-based Muslim cleric Fethullah Gulen, whom Ankara blames for the attempted putsch.
Erdogan said he would approve, “without hesitation” the death penalty, if parliament voted to bring it back, a move that would effectively end Turkey’s bid to join the European Union.
“I don’t look at what Hans and George say. I look at what Ahmet, Mehmet, Hasan, Huseyin, Ayse, Fatma and Hatice say,” he said.