Turkey now lashes out at 'Europe's silence'

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday lashed out at Europe's silence over the execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami in Bangladesh, accusing the West of “double standards.”

"If you are against political executions, why did you remain silent on the execution of Motiur Rahman Nizami who was martyred a couple of days ago," Erdogan said in a televised speech in Istanbul.

"Have you heard anything from Europe? ... No. Isn't it called double standards?"

Nizami, leader of the Jamaat-e-Islami, was hanged at a Dhaka jail early Tuesday for the massacre of intellectuals during the 1971 independence war with Pakistan.

The former minister was the fifth war criminal to be executed since the government set up a war crimes tribunal in 2010.

In protest, Turkey on Thursday recalled its ambassador to Bangladesh for consultations.

Since coming to power in 2002, Turkey's ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) has sought to boost the country's power in the Muslim world.

Last year, Erdogan condemned a death sentence handed to Egypt's deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, who was a close ally of Ankara until he was overthrown by the military in 2013.

At the time he condemned the West for turning a blind eye to the "coup" by army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi who is now president.