Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Turkey’s first conscientious objector Tayfun Gönül Passes Away

(31.07.2012) Turkey’s first conscientious objector to mandatory military service passed away at the age of 54 due to a heart attack on Monday night. A doctor by training, Tayfun Gönül had made critical contributions to the antimilitarist movement in Turkey, according to his friends. Gönül had already spent a long period in an intensive care unit following a cardiac infarct he suffered on Feb. 16 but was discharged from hospital about two months ago, Serkan Sultan, a close friend of Gönül’s, told bianet. Following his discharge, Tayfun Gönül’s condition had rapidly begun to improve, Sultan said, adding they had even briefly toured across the Aegean region, but that he finally gave in on Monday night at around 23:30 when he had a heart attack.

Turkey: Conscientious objector’s day - Security or freedom?

(14.05.2012) Conscientious objection, which started 200 years ago in other parts of the world, has only now become visible in Turkey. But the history of the Ottoman empire, with its myth of "the prophets army", and the history of the Republic of Turkey, with it’s myth that "every Turk is born a soldier", is actually full of stories of individual and collective evasion of military service, as if making fun of these very myths. My family history is also full of these stories. My grandfather Ali lived 7 years escaping the draft. He escaped from the military many times. In my grandfathers time there was no conscientious objector movement but he knew to act according to his conscience. I took a different path. Like other conscientious objectors, I declared my refusal to kill and be killed openly as a conscientious objector.

Greece: Women’s, conscientious objectors’ and other anti-war groups target the military budget

Protest against the outrageous war expenditure in front of the Ministry of National Defence, May 9, 2010

(09.05.2010) 65 years since the end of World War II. The wars and the occupations continue. The war expenditure is too high. In the 65th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, humanity is not even close to peace, since dozens of wars are taking place across the planet, and arms sales worldwide increased by 21% over the last five years. While the frugal measures of the government, the International Monetary Fund and the European Union take nightmarish dimensions, condemning millions of people, especially us women, to poverty, unemployment, exclusion and constant stress; at the very same moment of this greatest crisis, small Greece has a grievous record in Europe: it is first in military spending!

Protest Rally in Front of Ethiopian Consulate

EWRI: Stop the Support of the Dictatorial Ethiopian Regime!

(19.11.2009) With a rally in front of the Ethiopian consulate about 50 demonstrators protested in Frankfurt today. Members of the Ethiopian War Resisters’ Initiative (EWRI) had invited to this rally considering the beginning campaign for the election in May 2010.