Stephen Gethins – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Stephen Gethins on 2016-07-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his Turkish government counterpart on that country’s obligations as a Council of Europe member not to re-introduce the death penalty.

Sir Alan Duncan

I visited Turkey on 20-21 July to emphasise our unequivocal condemnation of the attempted coup on 15 July and our support for Turkey’s democratic institutions. During the visit in meetings with the Prime Minister, Foreign Minister and otheres, I stressed the need for Turkey to respect human rights and the rule of law, and made it clear that the UK was opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.