Turkey

Support War Resisters' International's work on nonviolence in Turkey

War Resisters' International has been working with Turkish war resisters since the early 1990s. Besides support to conscientious objectors facing imprisonment, WRI worked closely with nonviolent activists in developing nonviolent alternatives in Turkey.

"I would like to end with a few words to the [...] activists, who showed me their solidarity throughout these years.

Article 318:

(1) Persons who give incentives or make suggestions or spread propaganda which will have the effect of discouraging people from performing military service shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term of six months to two years.

Osman Murat Ülke declared his conscientious objection and burned his call-up papers on 1 September 1995 in Izmir. He was arrested more than a year later - on 7 October 1996 - on charges of Article 155, "alienating the people from the military".

"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.

In January 2007, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in Strasbourg decided on the case of Turkish conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke, who between 1997 and 1999 spent 2 1/2 years in military prison on numerous charges of „disobedience".

Welcome to the special edition of The Broken Rifle for Prisoners for Peace Day - 1 December. This year we focus on the situation in Turkey. We made this decision before the present escalation of the Turkish-Kurdish conflict, which again highlights the power of the military in Turkish society and politics: it is the institution which stands above everything - the government, the constitution, international human rights standards.

Resolution CM/ResDH(2007)109

Execution of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights
Ülke against Turkey

(Application No. 39437/98, judgment of 24 January 2006, final on 24 April 2006)

The Committee of Ministers, under the terms of Article 46, paragraph 2, of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, which provides that the Committee supervises the execution of final judgments of the European Court of Human Rights (hereinafter “the Convention” and “the Court”);

18 months after the ECHR judgement, Osman Murat Ülke is ordered back to prison

On 24 January 2006, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in favour of Turkish conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke. In short: Osman Murat Ülke complained that he had been prosecuted and convicted on account of his convictions as a pacifist and conscientious objector.

In the previous month, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

(a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

In the previous month, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

(a full archive of co-alerts is available at wri-irg.org/news/alerts)

TURKEY: 12 April 2007: Day of action in support of imprisoned conscientious objector Halil Savda 30 March 2007
CHILE: Six conscientious objectors in hiding 26 March 2007

Halil Savda faces second sentence for insistence on disobedience

With a second trial for "insistance on disobedience" (Article 88) presently going on, Turkish conscientious objector Halil Savda is well on the path to what the European Court of Human Rights had called 'civil death' in its judgement on the case of Turkish fellow objector Osman Murat Ülke.

The background to Halil Savda's case is appalling:

Halil Savda was called up for military service in 1996. At first he followed this call-up order, and finished his basic training.

After the release of Mehmet Tarhan in March last year (see co-alert,
10 March 2006),
it became more quiet about conscientious objectors in Turkey. However,
persecution continues, and even though Mehmet Tarhan had been released,
he was sentenced to 25 months imprisonment on 10 October 2006 (see
co-alert, 17
October 2006).