Turkish PM: ''Child killers deserve to get death penalty''

''I ordered that those who murder children will face stiff prison sentences even if it is not execution. The Ministry of Justice has been working on this issue,'' Erdogan told reporters when asked about recent murders.

Speaking after the weekly prayer, Erdogan said that it''s a serious problem for Turkey as it had abolished the capital punishment as part of its EU-oriented human rights reform. ''But, it''s a process we can replace it by aggravated life imprisonment.''

Turkish Parliament had abolished the death penalty in peacetime in August 2002.

Turkey signed a European Convention protocol abolishing the death penalty in all circumstances, including during wars in 2004. The death sentence was replaced by aggravated life imprisonment.

European states imposed an absolute ban on the death sentence in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of European Union and the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe which define its central values.