Ankara — If the Turkish public want the death penalty following last month’s failed coup then political parties will follow their will, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said at a rally in Istanbul on Sunday.
“If the nation makes such a decision (in support of death penalty), I believe political parties will abide by this decision,” Erdogan said during a unity rally in Yenikapi square in the touristic Sultanahmet district.
“It is the Turkish parliament that will decide on this (death penalty) given the sovereignty rests with the nation... I declare it in advance, I will approve the decision made by the parliament,” Erdogan said.
He attacked critics who said there was no death penalty in the EU, of which Turkey is a candidate nation, countering that capital punishment is used in the United States, Japan and China.
“Today there is the death penalty in the majority of the world,” he said, adding that capital punishment had been legal in Turkey until 2004, though the last execution took place in 1984.
Speaking to crowds of hundreds of thousands of people, Erdogan insisted that the state would be cleansed of all members of the Gulen movement “within law.”
He added: “They will pay a price for what they have done,” referring to the movement run by US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen.
Gulen is accused by Ankara of leading a terrorist organisation and of ordering the July 15 coup attempt during which at least 273 people were killed including 34 coup plotters.
He denies all accusations and the movement insists it promotes moderate Islam, charity and education.
Erdogan told the rally of more than one million people that July’s failed coup would be a milestone in building a stronger Turkey, defying Western criticism of mass purges and vowing to destroy those behind the putsch.
The “Democracy and Martyrs’ Rally” at the Yenikapi parade ground, built into the sea on the southern edge of Istanbul, was a show of strength by Erdogan, who has been angered by European criticism of his combative response to the coup and by US reluctance to hand over the man he accuses of masterminding it.
“That night, our enemies who were rubbing their hands in anticipation of Turkey’s downfall woke up the next morning to the grief that things would be more difficult from now on,” Erdogan said of the July 15 abortive coup, drawing parallels to times past when Turkey was occupied by foreign forces.
“From now on, we will examine very carefully who we have under us. We will see who we have in the military, who we have in the judiciary, and throw the others out of the door.”
The parade ground, built to hold more than a million people, was overflowing, with the streets of surrounding neighbourhoods clogged by crowds. One presidency official put the numbers at around five million and the event was broadcast live on public screens at smaller rallies across Turkey’s 81 provinces.
Since the coup bid, Turkish authorities have suspended, detained or placed under investigation tens of thousands of people, including soldiers, police, judges, journalists, medics and civil servants, prompting concern among Western allies that Erdogan is using the events to tighten his grip on power.
Erdogan vowed to rid Turkey of the network of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen, whose followers in the security forces, judiciary and civil service he accuses of orchestrating the attempted power grab and of plotting to overthrow the state.
In a rare appearance at a public rally, military chief Hulusi Akar said the “traitors” behind the plot would be punished and he thanked civilians for their role in putting it down. Many of the more than 240 people killed on July 15 were civilians who tried to prevent the takeover of power.
The leader of the main secularist opposition, Kemal Kilicdaroglu, said a “new door of compromise” had been opened and that politics must be kept out of the mosques, courthouses and barracks. “There is a new Turkey after July 15,” he said.
“FREEDOM OR DEATH“
Erdogan, a polarising figure seen by opponents as intolerant of dissent, invited the heads of the secularist and nationalist opposition parties to address the crowds in a display of national unity in defiance of Western criticism.
“We’re here to show that these flags won’t come down, the call to prayer won’t be silenced and our country won’t be divided,” said Haci Mehmet Haliloglu, 46, a civil servant who travelled from the Black Sea town of Ordu for the rally.
“This is something way beyond politics, this is either our freedom or death,” he said, a large Turkish flag over his shoulder and a matching baseball cap on his head.
Turkey’s top Muslim cleric and chief rabbi also attended. But the pro-Kurdish HDP, the third-largest party in parliament, was not invited due to its alleged links to Kurdish militants, prompting anger on social media from its supporters.
Amid the cooling of ties with the West, Erdogan is due to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday in St Petersburg for talks intended to end a period of tension after Turkey downed a Russian fighter jet near the Syrian border last November.
“At the talks with my friend Vladimir, I believe, a new page in bilateral relations will be opened. Our countries have a lot to do together,” Erdogan told the TASS news agency in an interview published on Sunday.
In Washington on Sunday several hundred people clad in red and waving Turkish flags gathered in front of the White House in support of Erdogan and to demand that US President Barack Obama deport Gulen to Turkey.
“He (Erdogan) has made some mistakes but he is not a dictator,” said Okan Sakar, 35, a Turkish tax inspector currently studying in the United States.
