Turkey’s Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu has been criticised for saying police should break the legs of drug dealers who are seen outside schools.
The Turkish Human Rights Association (IHD) and secular opposition newspaper Cumhuriyet both accused Mr Soylu of incitement to commit a crime.
He pledged to take the blame for it.
Read Also Trump scraps 2016 election ‘voter fraud’ inquiry
“If a dealer is near a school the police have a duty to break his leg. Do it and blame me. Even if it costs five, 10, 20 years in jail – we’ll pay.”
He was speaking at a public meeting on security, at a hall in the Turkish capital, Ankara.
He said the security forces’ seizure of 20 tonnes of heroin in 2017 had made it a record year for drug hauls.
He said Turkey must fight drug dealers just as it fights the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK).
“What we are doing to the PKK terrorists we must also do to drug dealers – no one can poison our future. What the security officer does is my responsibility.”
