Turkey

On 21 October, 15 Turkish NGOs and political parties launched a new Conscientious Objection Platform to defend the human right to conscientious objection.

On 8 September 2006, the European Parliament voted in favour of the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. The issue of conscientious objection was raised in an amendment that had been proposed by EBCO and was introduced into the report by the Green Group. The relevant paragraph reads:

The European Parliament,

Hakan Ekinci, 28, who deserted his Istanbul garrison in May and fled to Albania, on Tuesday seized the Turkish Airlines Tirana-Istanbul flight on which he was being deported, threatening the pilot with a parcel disguised as a bomb, officials said. He had made an unsuccessful bid for asylum in Albania earlier.

Presentation at the international seminar "Unarmed Resistance: the transnational factor", Coventry, 15 July 2006

Andreas Speck, War Resisters' International

WRI homepage > Programme Areas > The Right to Refuse to Kill > Solidarity with war resistance in Turkey (for Coventry seminar)

Contents

Introduction

The Turkish war resisters movement - a brief hi

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)

UK14787-170406: BRITAIN: Conscientious objector sentenced to eight month in prison

TK14682-110406: TURKEY: Police searching for Turkish/Kurdish CO Halil Savda / fear of safety

Good news for a change from Turkey: on 9 March, Turkish gay conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan was unexpectedly released from military prison in Sivas, following an order by the Military Court of Appeal in Ankara. The reasons are still not known, but one of the reasons given is that even if finally sentenced, Mehmet Tarhan would unlikely need to serve more time in prison than he already had (he was arrested on 6 April 2005, and has spent almost one year in prison).

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)

[co-alert] TK14724-160206: TURKEY: Solitary confinement for Mehmet Tarhan - arbitrary punishment Concodoc at WRI, Thu Feb 16, 2006

In a new judgement, the European Court on Human Rights ruled against against Turkey, and in favour of antimilitarist activists. The case was brought by İzmir Savaş Karşıtları Derneği and Others against Turkey (no. 46257/99), on grounds of violation of Article 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The applicants are an association, İzmir Savaş Karşıtları Derneği (Izmir Association Against War), and Ayşe Tosuner, Ali Serdar Tekin and Osman Murat Ülke, Turkish nationals born in 1950, 1974 and 1970 respectively, who live in Izmir (Turkey).

Since the last issue, the WRI office issued the following co-alerts:

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

TK14724-161205: Turkey: ** Clarification** Fri Dec 16, 2005

TK14724-151205: Turkey: Sivas Military Court overruled Military Court of Appeal decision on Mehmet Tarhan Thu Dec 15, 2005

On 24 January 2006, the European Court of Human Rights finally released the judgement in the case 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.

SECOND SECTION

CASE OF ÜLKE v. TURKEY

(Application no. 39437/98)

JUDGMENT

STRASBOURG

24 January 2006

FINAL

24/04/2006

This judgment is final but it may be subject to editorial revision.

In the case of Ülke v. Turkey,

The European Court of Human Rights (Second Section), sitting as a Chamber composed of:

Mr J.-P. Costa, President,
Mr A.B. Baka,
Mr R. Türmen,
Mr K. Jungwiert
Mr M. Ugrekhelidze,
Mrs A. Mularoni,
Mrs E. Fura-Sandström, judges,
and Mrs S. Dollé, Section Registrar,

Interview with Mehmet Tarhan for the Spanish newspaper Diagonal, January 2006

As you know, it took a long time for your questions to reach me. It took me quite some time to pick up the pen and answer your questions too. For unpleasant things happened. And I was afraid my answers would be unlike me when my thoughts and emotions were in such turmoil.