Pro-government media under the direct and full control of Turkey’s autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has suggested the cruel execution methods during Ottoman era such as the impalement of torso by hooks, as the best execution method for the alleged followers of the Gülen movement on Sunday.
The website of the Erdoğanist Kanal 7 TV channel has posted an article with pictures which shows cruel methods of executions in 17th century without investigation or trial under the rule of Ottoman State as the best methods of executing the suspects who have alleged links with the movement.
Kanal7.com has presented some historical pictures of extra-judicial executions which show the impalement of torso by hooks in its horrible article and saying that “An execution sample from the days of which the decisions of execution were given immediately without wasting any time with the processes of investigation, interrogation and trial etc to execute those who revolted against the state.”
Describing the primitive and the horrific methods of extrajudicial executions of the suspected rebels in detail, Kanal7.com has stated that those who attempted to revolt against the state were hooked alive to die slowly in agony before public eyes.
The pro-Erdoğan news outlet has also hinted that the testimonies and defenses of coup suspects who said that they did not take part in the controversial coup attempt during their court hearings have necessitated such kind of extrajudicial execution methods.
Kanal 7’s article came a day after President Erdoğan targeted people linked to the Gülen movement while speaking to a crowd of thousands at the July 15 Martyrs’ Bridge on the anniversary of the failed coup attempt. “We’re not just some nomadic tribe, we are a nation. They, however, are a disease, disease. That’s the difference,” said Erdoğan. “First we will cut off traitors’ heads,” said Erdoğan while underlining that there were other powers behind the movement.
With regard to a coup suspect who appeared before a judge with a T-shirt reading “Hero” in English last week, Erdoğan said: “We recently spoke to Mr. Prime Minister. They should wear uniforms like they do at Guantanamo [prison] when going to court.”
Impalement, as a method of execution and also torture, is the penetration of a human by an object such as a stake, pole, spear, or hook, often by complete or partial perforation of the torso. It was used particularly in response to “crimes against the state” and regarded across a number of cultures as a very harsh form of capital punishment and recorded in myth and art. Impalement was also used during wartime to suppress rebellion, punish traitors or collaborators, and as a punishment for breaches of military discipline. References to impalement in Babylonia and the Neo-Assyrian Empire are found as early as the 18th century BC. Within the Ottoman Empire, this form of execution continued into the 20th century.
Turkey survived a controversial military coup attempt on July 15 that killed over 240 people. Immediately after the putsch, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government along with President Erdoğan pinned the blame on the Gülen movement.
Fethullah Gülen, who inspired the movement, strongly denied having any role in the failed coup and called for an international investigation into it, but President Erdoğan — calling the coup attempt “a gift from God” — and the government initiated a widespread purge aimed at cleansing sympathizers of the movement from within state institutions, dehumanizing its popular figures and putting them in custody.
Turkish Justice Minister Bekir Bozdağ announced on July 7, 2017 that at least 50,504 people have been arrested and 168,801 are the subject of legal proceedings. Those who jailed are including teachers, journalists, academics, intellectuals, public workers, doctors, judges, prosecutors, lawyers, shopkeepers, housewives etc.
July 16, 2017
