Turkish death penalty idea 'unacceptable'

The Austrian foreign minister says the idea that Turkey could revive the use of the death penalty would be unacceptable.

It would be unacceptable for Turkey to reintroduce the death penalty in response to an attempted coup, Austrian Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz says.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday after the failed coup attempt there could be no delay in using capital punishment, which Turkey abolished in 2004, and the government would discuss it with opposition parties.

"The introduction of the death penalty would of course be absolutely unacceptable," Kurz said in an interview with Austrian newspaper Kurier.

"There must be no arbitrary purges, no criminal sanctions outside the framework of the rule of law and the justice system."