Release conscientious objector Murat Kanatli
Use this form to send the letter below to the relevant authority (Turkish President Abdullah Gül). You can add your own notes in a separate box after the standard text, if you wish. You must include a name, address, and email address; a copy will be sent to you with a cc to the WRI office (so we have a record of how many email letters have been sent out for this particular case).
Dear President Abdullah Gül,
Conscientious objector Murat Kanatli has been imprisoned for 10 days in northern Cyprus.
Murat Kanatli refuses to undertaken annual compulsory military exercises based on his beliefs and conscience. He claims his human right to conscientious objection, as guaranteed by Article 18 of the ICCPR. In a decision from January 2007, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recognised the right to conscientious objection as a legitimate exercise of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, as guaranteed by Article 18 ICCPR.
This imprisonment was only related to his refusal to undertake annual compulsory military exercises in 2009. Prosecutions for other years are pending.
I urge you to release Murat Kanatli immediately, and cease all other prosecutions against him.
Yours sincerely,
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