Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Criminal proceedings against Ukrainian conscientious objector and journalist might be resumed

The Ruslan Kotsaba story

(18.11.2017) Chronology of the case of Ruslan Kotsaba and analysis of the prosecution against the conscientious objector and journalist.

Mediterranean Conference on Conscientious Objection in Cyprus

Report

(10.02.2014) The first ever Mediterranean Conference on Conscientious Objection took place in Cyprus from 31 January to 3 February 2014. Over 30 activists from Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Palestine, Egypt and Turkey were able to particpate. The group was complemented with other guests from Germany, the United Kingdom and Switzerland. Rudi Friedrich reports.

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.