Turkey steps back

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim yesterday said a fair trial would represent a harsher punishment for suspected coup plotters than the death penalty -- an apparent step back from threats to re-introduce capital punishment.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had suggested Turkey could bring back capital punishment -- abolished in 2004 as part of the country's reforms to join the European Union -- in the wake of the July 15 failed coup aimed at ousting him from power.

The threat stunned the EU, which makes the abolition of capital punishment a nonnegotiable condition for joining the bloc.

"A person dies only once when executed," Yildirim told ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) MPs in parliament. "There are tougher ways to die than the death (penalty) for them. That is an impartial and fair trial," Yildirim said.

The prime minister's comments marked a change in tone after Erdogan said earlier this month that if the Turkish public wanted a return to capital punishment, then political parties would follow their will.

Erdogan has also not mentioned the issue in his latest speeches in recent days.

Police raids pro-Gulen businesses

Meanwhile, Turkish police yesterday raided dozens of companies in Istanbul in search of 120 suspects wanted after last month's botched coup attempt, state media reported.

The suspects are accused of financing the activities of US-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who is blamed by authorities for orchestrating the July 15 putsch.

Turkish authorities have undertaken a relentless crackdown on alleged Gulen supporters in the wake of the coup, detaining over 35,000 people. Almost 11,600 have since been released. Turkish police on Monday raided four major courts in Istanbul, detaining 136 of the wanted prosecutors and other judicial staff working at the courts.