Erdogan wants death penalty for arsonists as fires rage

The country is once again experiencing devastating fires. According to the Ministry of Forestry, 88 percent are arson attacks. Visiting the area of the latest blaze, the president called for "intimidating" punishments. Justice holder announces start of process to "reconsider" 2004 abolition. Fears over later extension of use.

Istanbul (AsiaNews) - Turkey is thinking in concrete terms of reintroducing the death penalty. The pretext is provided by the recent fires - mostly arson - that have affected a part of the country and prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to call for exemplary sentences: in this regard, the sultan, on a visit to Marmaris where a vast fire broke out in the area in recent days, said the punishment for those who set fires or burn forests should be "intimidating." His words were immediately picked up and relayed by the Justice Ministry, which announced plans to "reconsider" the 2004 decision to abolish capital punishment. 

Ankara disarmed the executioner by striking the punishment from the constitution in Erdogan's first years in power, when he held the position of prime minister (a position later erased following the 2017 constitutional referendum, which gave the president the role of head of government). However, the series of fires that has developed over the past period-an escalation moreover similar to what happened last year and which prompted a section of the country to criticize authorities and government for lack of control-has led the leadership to call for harsher punishments. Latest in the series is the arson attack that destroyed 4,500 hectares of forests on the Aegean coast. 

Authorities have arrested a suspect, believed to be responsible for the fire, who has reportedly already admitted responsibility in the first interrogation. Meanwhile, firefighting and civil defense teams extinguished the flames and averted further expansion.

After visiting the area affected by the fire, a common phenomenon in the summer region in Turkey as in large parts of the Mediterranean, Erdogan said the punishment for those who set fires should be "intimidating. And if it is a death sentence, let the death sentence be." Words immediately picked up by Minister Bekir Bozdag, who addressing reporters during a visit to the eastern town of Agri on June 25 said the president's words "are instructions for us to use." "At the ministry," he added, "we have already started working in this direction," while today the penalty for those who set fires is 10 years in prison. The goal is to introduce capital punishment if the fire is linked to organized crime. 

The fear of activists and experts is that that of fires is just a pretext to reintroduce capital punishment. And then, at a later date, expand its application to other crimes. 

The country's first major summer fire began on June 21 and was reminiscent of last year's devastating fires, the worst ever recorded, which literally burned some 140,000 hectares of land to the ground. Turkish Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu reported that the suspect admitted responsibility, saying he set fire to the forest over family disputes and disagreements. Moreover, local officials admitted to Reuters that the country does not have sufficient manpower and resources to deal with another summer of emergency on this front.

Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci said 88 percent of forest fires in Turkey are of arson origin.

• Turkey
• Erdogan
• death sentence
• executioner
• fires
• capital punishment
• human rights