Four new Turkish conscientious objectors declared their conscientious objection

Four new Turkish conscientious objectors declared their conscientious objection on Sunday, 18 May 2008. The declarations were made in Istanbul during "Militurne - Antimilitarist Days", an event to celebrate International Conscientious Objection Day. The names of the COs are Eylem Polat (a woman objector), Deniz Ozgur, Ibrahim Yilmaz and Uzkan Kuru.

The "Anti-Militarist Days" started on Saturday, 17 May, with a panel discussion in Beyoplu, organised by the Istanbul branch of the Human Rights Association and the Halil Savda Solidarity Initiative. The new conscientious objectors read out their declarations during the panel discussion.

On 18 May, the conscientious objectors met in Beyoplu, Besiktai and Kadekoy streets and performed a "theatre on the streets" performance, with was widely watched by passers-by as well as participants of the event. In Beyoplu, the group encountered a group of nationalists with banners that read "independence or death", so the conscientious objectors decided not to read their press statement in public after the end of the performance, in order to avoid tensions.

The police did not intervene except for asking two of the participants for the ID.

Feyda Sayan