Erdogan Says Turkey To Curb Crime After Wave Of Murders

Text size

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday said Turkey would toughen up its justice system to crack down on crime, after a string of gruesome murders sent shockwaves through the country.

Turkey has struggled to contain a recent wave of femicides, with a young man suspected of slaying two 19-year-old women — beheading one — in Istanbul last week before taking his own life.

A 26-year-old policewoman was also killed in late September by a suspect with a lengthy criminal record.

Erdogan said he was intent on making it easier to detain suspects likely to reoffend, and on stiffening release conditions for convicts sentenced to up to five years behind bars.

The proposed measures would require a change to the criminal code and other laws making up the justice system.

“A series of recent events, from the martyrdom of a policewoman to the brutal murder of (two) young women, have provoked a justified reaction within our nation,” he told his AKP party’s parliamentary group.

The head of state said he also planned to firm up Turkey’s sentence enforcement system to avoid releasing detainees before they complete ten percent of their jail term.

“It bothers us, as it does everyone else, to see criminals with dozens of cases on their criminal records, walking around freely,” he added.

The number of cases would be taken into consideration to facilitate the detention of an individual, even if their trial is under way and a verdict is pending, according to the president.

One monitoring group says there have been 290 murders of women this year in Turkey, with more than 160 “suspect” killings officially classed as suicides or accidents.

bg/ach/ju/cw