Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has urged grief-stricken New Zealand to restore capital punishment for the mass murderer who shot dead scores of people in the Pacific Ocean country last week, vowing that Ankara would make the assailant “pay” for his “heinous” crime if Wellington did not.

AVA- On Friday, a 28-year-old Australian national, identified as Brenton Tarrant, killed 50 people and wounded 50 others at two mosques in Christchurch, a city located on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The mass shooting is regarded as the deadliest ever attack in New Zealand.
The attacker, who broadcast live footage on Facebook of the attack on one mosque in Christchurch, was detained shortly afterwards and on Saturday stood handcuffed before a New Zealand district court judge and was charged with murder. He was remanded without plea until his next appearance in the High Court on April 5.
“You heinously killed 50 of our siblings. You will pay for this. If New Zealand doesn’t make you, we know how to make you pay one way or another,” the Turkish president told an election rally of thousands in northern Turkey on Tuesday.
The attacker, a suspected white supremacist, wrote a lengthy manifesto, titled “The Great Replacement,” in which he described the Turkish leader as a “warlord” who is leading a country that is among “the oldest enemies of our people.”
He further issued threats against Turkey and Erdogan himself, calling for the drive of Turks from Turkey’s northwestern European region, where Istanbul is located, a Muslim-majority city and Turkey’s largest urban center.
Erdogan on Tuesday also said his country was wrong to have abolished the death penalty 15 years ago, adding that Wellington should make legal arrangements so that Tarrant could face capital punishment.
“If the New Zealand parliament doesn’t make this decision I will continue to argue this with them constantly. The necessary action needs to be taken,” he said.
At weekend election rallies Erdogan showed appalling video footage of the shooting, as well as excerpts from the attacker's so-called manifesto. The move, however, drew a rebuke from New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters, who said he had told Turkey’s foreign minister and vice president that showing the video could endanger New Zealanders abroad.
Nevertheless, an extract from Tarrant’s manifesto was again shown on a screen at Erdogan’s rally on Tuesday, as well as short part of the footage.
On Monday, Erdogan addressed a rally in the northwestern province of Canakkale commemorating the 1915 Gallipoli campaign, when Ottoman soldiers defeated British-led forces including Australian and New Zealand troops trying to seize the peninsula, a gateway to Istanbul.
He said the mass shooting of Muslims in New Zealand is part of a wider attack on Turkey, calling on Wellington to launch a serious investigation into the massacre and threatening to send back “in caskets” all those who try to take the battle to Istanbul.
Citing Turkey’s intelligence, Erdogan also said on Monday that the mass murderer had visited Turkey twice in 2016.
Earlier in the day, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed “the terrorist” would face “the full force of the law.”
The 38-year-old leader also urged the country to support its grieving Muslim community, particularly when they return to pray on Friday.