After his victory in the constitutional referendum in 2017, Erdogan made favorable statements on the reinstatement of a capital punishment, announcing he would discuss the possibility with Devlet Bahçeli of the Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) and then still acting Turkish prime minister Binali Yildirim. In view of this happening, the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker announced that such an event would mean the end of an eventual Turkish accession to the European Union.