I would pick up a gun and seek retribution: Turkey's EU minister

Turkish EU Minister Bozk?r said that if it was his own daughter in place of Özgecan Aslan, he might feel the wish to 'take arms and seek retribution,' but added that 'the state should not react in this way' as aggravated life imprisonment would be the appropriate sentence for such criminals. Aggravated life imprisonment would be the appropriate sentence for criminals such as those who brutally murdered university student Özgecan Aslan in an attempted rape on a public minibus, Turkish EU Minister Volkan Bozk?r said on Feb. 16, amid heated debates over reinstating the death penalty.

"Aggravated life imprisonment would be more appropriate than the death penalty," Bozk?r said, stressing the need to "differentiate personal feelings and the response of the state."

He said that if it was his own daughter in place of Özgecan Aslan, he might feel the wish to "take arms and seek retribution," but added that "the state should not react in this way."

Bozk?r condemned the killing of the 20-year-old student, who was found in a riverbed in the Tarsus district of Mersin province, and said the duty of the state is to detain criminals and "to approach everyone within the framework of justice," Bozk?r said.

The death penalty in Turkey was abolished in peacetime in 2002, under reforms aimed at EU membership, by a three-party coalition government led by the Democratic Left Party (DSP). Coalition partner the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) did not block the government in going ahead with the proposal, but did vote against it.

Apart from the MHP, the votes of all parties represented at parliament were split between "yes" and "no." Current President Recep Tayyip Erdo?an - at the time the head of the Justice and Development...