10.2005 - Source: UK Border Agency (Home Office)

Death Penalty ("Country Report - October 2005") [#40563],  [ID 14107]

"5.90 In January 2004 the BBC reported that Turkey had agreed a total ban on capital punishment when it signed Protocol 13 of the European Convention on Human Rights which prohibits the death penalty in all circumstances, including in times of war and at times of danger of war. [66i]

5.91 The European Commission 2004 reported that “Turkey has abolished the death penalty in all circumstances…. Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances was signed in January 2004. Any remaining references to the death penalty were removed from Turkish legislation as part of the May 2004 constitutional amendments.” [71c] (p33)

5.92 As noted in a BBC article dated 19 July 2004 the maximum term of imprisonment under Turkish law is 36 years. [66aa] As outlined in the May-June 2005 issue of Newspot (published in the website of the Office of the Prime Minister, Directorate General of Press and Information) in an article on the new Turkish Penal Code, “The new Turkish penal code went into effect on June 1 [2005], along with the penal procedures and the law on the execution of sentences. The new penal code changes the duration and number of penalties in certain cases…Terrorist Abdullah Öcalan and similar criminals will remain in prison indefinitely.” [36j]

5.93 The European Commission 2004 stated that:

“Turkey has made further progress with regard to international conventions on human rights since the last Regular Report [2003]…The First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, providing for recourse procedures that extend the right of petition to individuals, was signed in February 2004. In April 2004 Turkey signed the Second Optional Protocol on the abolition of the death penalty.” [71c] (p29-30)"

Document(s): Open document

05.04.2005 - Source: Amnesty International

Report on death sentences 2004 - turkey ("The death penalty worldwide: developments in 2004") [#30870],  [ID 14108]

"Turkey prohibited the death penalty for all crimes under its constitution in 2004 and removed the death penalty from its penal code. On 7 May the Turkish parliament adopted Law No. 5170, removing language from Article 15 of the Constitution that allowed for the death penalty in wartime and adding a statement to Article 38 that
The death penalty. . . shall not be imposed. On 14 July the parliament adopted Law No. 5218, removing the death penalty from all articles of the Penal Code and replacing it with life imprisonment. The Turkish government also indicated its intention to subscribe to international abolitionist treaties by signing the Second Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and Protocol No. 13 to the European Convention on Human Rights. In 2002 Turkey had abolished the death penalty except in time of war or imminent threat of war. The last executions were in 1984."

Document(s): Open document

06.10.2004 - Source: European Commission

Abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances ("Regular Report 2004 on Turkey´s progress towards accession") [#26161],  [ID 14109]

"Turkey has abolished the death penalty in all circumstances. Protocol No. 6 to the ECHR on the abolition of the death penalty except in times of war or the imminent threat of war entered into force in December 2003. Protocol No. 13 to the ECHR concerning the abolition of the death penalty in all circumstances was signed in January 2004. Any remaining references to the death penalty were removed from Turkish legislation as part of the May 2004 constitutional amendments."

Document(s): Open document

09.01.2004 - Source: BBC News

Turkey has agreed to a total ban on capital punishment ("Turkey agrees death penalty ban") [#18675],  [ID 14110]

Document(s): Open document

30.09.2003 - Source: International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights

Report focused on latest human rights developments in the member states of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) ("Interventions and Recommendations by the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) on the Occasion of the OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting Warsaw, 6-17 October 2003") [#16408],  [ID 14111]

"Countries that retain the death penalty for exceptional crimes, such as crimes under military law or during times of war, include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greece, Latvia, and Turkey. Armenia and the Russian Federation have retained the death penalty in their legislation, but have established a practice of not carrying out executions and have not executed anyone in the last ten years."

Document(s): Open document

21.06.2003 - Source: Schweizerische Flüchtlingshilfe

Todesstrafe abgeschafft; Zusatzprotokoll Nr. 6 zur EMRK unterzeichnet ("Zur aktuellen Situation - Juni 2003 ") [#14557],  [ID 14112]

"Wie wir bereits erwähnt haben, wurde die Todesstrafe mit Verfassungsänderung vom August 2002 in Friedenszeiten aufgehoben. Im Januar 2003 hat die Türkei auch das Zusatzprotokoll Nr. 6 zur EMRK unterzeichnet."

Document(s): Open document

09.10.2002 - Source: European Commission

European Commission: The death penalty in time of peace has been converted into life imprisonment ("2002 Regular Report on Turkey's Process Towards Accession") [#10217],  [ID 14114]

"Following the August 2002 reforms, capital punishment in peacetime has been
abolished. The abolition of capital punishment had been widely debated in the coalition
Government, and central to this debate was Öcalan’s case, which is pending before the
ECtHR. The death penalty in time of peace has been converted into life imprisonment.
Prisoners convicted of terrorist crimes must serve their full sentence.
The process of converting existing death sentences into life imprisonment began in
September 2002. The moratorium on executions, in force since 1984, has been
maintained although death sentences continued to be imposed by Courts until August
2002, on the basis of the Anti-Terror Law."

Document(s): Open document