Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday suggested reinstating the death penalty for those responsible for igniting wildfires, Turkish media reports.
"Where would this [punishment] lead to? Death sentence? It should be death sentence," Erdoğan told reporters in the fire-hit tourism resort of Marmaris in the south-western province of Muğla.
Turkey abolished the death penalty in 2002 and the parliament would first need to vote before Erdoğan can approve it.
A wildfire in Marmaris, which has been raging since Tuesday, has affected 4,000 hectares and forced 435 people to evacuate, Erdoğan said.
On Friday, a court in Marmaris sent a man to jail after he "confessed" to having started the fire out of anger over a family dispute, Anadolu reports.
A second person was arrested in the Mediterranean resort city of Antalya, some 500 kilometers to the north-east of Marmaris, for suspected arson on Friday.
Capital punishment would be a "deterrent" and should be seriously considered, Erdoğan added, without elaborating if he refers to arson in particular or other acts for causing a wildfire.
Last summer, massive wildfires destroyed thousands of hectares of forested area across Turkey.
This season's first major fire in Marmaris raised fears of a potential spread to other regions.
