All negotiations for Turkey to join the EU will stop immediately if Turkey reintroduces the death penalty, EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker has said.

His comments come in the wake of a foiled military coup attempt which has resulted in the arrest of thousands of soldiers, police, judges, teachers, civil servants, and others in just over a week. Tens of thousands have been removed or dismissed.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has reiterated several times that the option to reincorporate capital punishment into the country's legislation is alive as there has been support among the population. The country has been in a state of emergency since last week.

Juncker, however, has noted that a country that includes death penalty in its arsenal has no place in the EU.

"I believe that Turkey, in its current state, is not in a position to become a member any time soon and not even over a longer period," Reuters quotes Juncker as saying on French TV station France 2.

Erdogan, however, told Al Jazeera last week that his country had been kept "waiting for 53 years" on the door of the European Union and asked rhetorically if all countries that are already in the bloc were more eligible, claiming Turkey was "more advanced" in a range of areas, from human rights to economic opportunities.

While Turkey was officially recognized as a candidate to join the EU in 1999, an association agreement was signed back in 1963.

The issue of accepting Turkey into the bloc has been polarizing for years, with some EU politicians pointing to political, religious or security grounds to reject the idea.

Turkish TV stations in the meantime are reported as saying that arrest warrants have been issued for 42 journalists in the country over alleged links to the network of US-based Islamic cleric Fethullah G?len, whom Turkey accuses of being behind the thwarted coup.

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