Conscientious objection in Turkey

"Patriotic service is a right and duty for every Turkish citizen", states article 72 of the Turkish constitution. Military service is thus a seemingly inevitable part of a Turkish man's life, and the thought that a man who is not physically unfit would not serve in the country's military can almost not be voiced in public. Turkey as a military-nation and the myth that "every Turk is born a soldier" has been carefully crafted since the early times of the new Turkish republic, and only recently does this myth begin to show cracks.

A conscientious objection movement

In December 1989, Tayfun Gönül was the first person to publicly declare his conscientious objection, soon to be followed by Vedat Zencir in February 1990. Both cases received quite a lot of public attention, and in December 1992 the first Turkish War Resisters Association was set up in Izmir - the beginning of what can maybe be called a conscientious objection movement.

In the following years, several young men declared their conscientious objection, and in 1993 the International Conscientious Objection Meeting (ICOM) in Ören in Turkey injected a lot of enthusiasm and energy into the young movement.

Initially, the movement mainly faced prosecution under Article 155 (now 318 - see Article on page 4), but no conscientious objector went to prison for his objection. This only changed with the arrest of Osman Murat Ülke on 7 October 1996 (see right column). However, even during the time of Osman's imprisonment the Turkish government avoided to imprison other declared conscientious objectors, although some tried to provoke their arrest.

In March 1999 Osman Murat Ülke was released from prison, back to a clandestine life. Since then, several other conscientious objectors spent time in prison - Halil Savda, Mehmet Bal, Mehmet Tarhan - only to be released after several months into a life amounting to "civil death".

Nevertheless, up to now more than 60 people have publicly declared their conscientious objection, demanding a right that Turkey does not want to recognise.

Progress?

Initially, the ECHR judgement in the case of Osman Murat Ülke raised hope that soon the situation could be resolved. However, recent developments are less positive - especially the obstructive behaviour of the Turkish state when it comes to the implementation of the ECHR judgement in the case of Osman Murat Ülke.

But Ülke's case is not the only negative indicator: in the case of a Jehovah's Witness objector, the Military Court of Cassation in Ankara ruled on 29 May 2007 that repeated punishment for 'persistent disobedience' is lawful - again in complete ignorance of the judgement of the ECHR in the case of Osman Murat Ülke. The court does not even see a need to argue its case against the ECHR judgement.

However, in its communication with the Council of Europe on the implementation of the ECHR judgement, the Turkish government said that a law is under preparation that will put an end to the violation of human rights that Ülke and other conscientious objectors faced and still face. Nobody knows this draft law yet, and it has to be noted that nowhere does the Turkish government mention that this will recognise the right to conscientious objection. It might take more ECHR judgements to convince Turkey that conscientious objection is a human right...

More information: /co/turkcampaign-en.htm

List of declared Turkish conscientious objectors