Open Letter to Public Opinion

We regard death penalty as an attack against the right to life and as a crime directed to the physical existence of persons.

Human Rights Association (HRA) calls for the abolition of death penalty because:

·Death penalty directly targets the right to life;

·Death penalty is based on the primitive understanding of taking revenge;

·Death penalty has not any deterrent function;

·Death penalty is in contradiction with the contemporary understanding of the execution of sentences that aims at rehabilitating criminals and re-integrating them into society;

·There is no possibility to reverse, in case of judicial error;

·Yielding widespread respect for the life and dignity of human being is needed.

As Umberto Eco says”… States do not have ambitions that they aspire to achieve. States are obliged to stress that killing people is wrong in all circumstances. Therefore, states cannot kill people to show that killing of people is a wrong act.”

HRA defends the right to life in principal and in all circumstances. HRA is against death penalty and the execution of death sentences in various ways, both in Turkey and in the world. HRA is against death penalty without considering who commits a crime and what he/she is charged with.

 HRA believes that the high interests of the community of Turkey depend on having peaceful relations instead of executions. The bright future of the society in Turkey depends not on experiencing new sufferings but on establishing fundamental human rights and freedoms in the framework of human rights law.

HRA wants to draw your attention to the cases of 48 people, who have been sentenced to death and whom their files are waiting to be examined by the Justice Commission of the Turkish Grand National Assembly, and also to the concerns of hundreds of persons who are under the threat of death sentence. We believe that the society should be freed from this tension.

HRA claims for the removal of the law articles providing death penalty, without making any distinction based on ‘time of war’ and/or ‘time of peace’. HRA also demands the adoption of the 6^th Protocol of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Hüsnü Öndül

President