TURKEY: Reimprisonment of conscientious objector Ali Fikri Işık

On 27th February, conscientious objector Ali Fikri Işık was sentenced to serve 1 year and 15 days in Edirne Military Prison for 'desertion'. Since 27th February, Ali Fikri Işık has been on hunger strike.

Isik has already served 4.5 months in Edirne Military Prison for 'draft evasion'. He declared his conscientious objection whilst on trial in the military court.

You can send a protest email here.

Background information

Ali's conscientious objection is a human right protected by Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Further to this, on 7 July 2011, the European Court of Human Rights, in their judgement Bayatyan v. Armenia (Application no. 23459/03, 1/6/2011), ruled that states have a duty to respect individuals’ right to conscientious objection to military service as part of their obligation to respect the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Since then, the European Court of Human Rights has consolidated its jurisprudence in judgements on Turkey (Demirtaş v. Turkey from 17 January 2012 and Erçep v. Turkey from 22 November 2011, Savda v. Turkey from 12 June 2012, and Tarhan v. Turkey from 17 July 2012).

Moreover, repeated imprisonment is a violation of international legal standards. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in Opinion 24/2003 on Israel came to the conclusion that the repeated imprisonment of conscientious objectors is arbitrary, and therefore it constitutes a violation of 14 par 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, of which Turkey is a signatory.

Solidarity

War Resisters' International calls for letters of protest to the Turkish authorities, and Turkish embassies abroad. An email letter to Turkey's President can be sent at /node/21398.

A list of Turkey's's embassies abroad can be found here.

War Resisters' International calls for the immediate release of conscientious objector Ali Fikri Işık, and all other imprisoned conscientious objectors.

Hannah Brock
War Resisters' International