Inter­na­tio­nal Support of Conscien­tious Objec­tors and Deserters

Turkey: It will be 30 years soon

Video with conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke

(15.05.2021) Osman Murat Ülke is a conscientious objector in Turkey. He declared his conscientious objection 1995. In this video he describes in detail how civilian death, he has to face though a positive decision of the European Courts for Human Rights, affects his everyday life. The video has been made by Association for Conscientious Objection (Istanbul) and published to the International Day of Conscientious Objection, May 15, 2021.

Turkish with English undertitles.

Conscientious Objection in Turkey

Description and contents of the booklet

(15.05.2021) In Turkey, the first conscientious objectors publicly declared their objections in the early 1990s and stood up against war, the military and compulsory service. In the meantime, far more than 1,000 conscripts have declared their conscientious objections. Furthermore, hundreds of thousands have evaded military service, using other ways or hiding. Faced with prosecution, several hundred have sought asylum abroad. By now Turkey is the only member state in the Council of Europe that has not recognised the right to conscientious objection to military service.

This booklet is published 30 years after the first public declarations of conscientious objection. It takes stock, describes the solidarity work for the conscientious objection movement from abroad and gives a voice to conscientious objectors, some of whom were active in Turkey for years and have now gone into exile.

A publication to the International Day of Conscientious Objection in a quadrilingual online edition.

Download: https://www.Connection-eV.org/pdfs/conscientious-objection-turkey-2021.pdf

Introduction

Booklet Conscientious Objection in Turkey, 2021

(15.05.2021) This booklet is published 30 years after the first public declarations of conscientious objection. It takes stock, describes the solidarity work for the conscientious objection movement from abroad and gives a voice to conscientious objectors, some of whom were active in Turkey for years and have now gone into exile, with an uncertain outcome.

A main focus of this booklet is on the reports of conscientious objectors who have gone into exile. They portray the everyday reality of militarism in Turkey. Beran Mehmet İşçi, Ercan Aktaş, Halil Savda, Mertcan Güler and Onur Erden make clear how important their decisions against war and violence are to them and what repressions they were consequently subjected to. Despite all the imprisonment, torture and repression they have suffered, the reports radiate something positive, pleading for a world without war, oppression, military and violence.

Conscientious Objection and Asylum

(15.05.2021) In the 1990s, several hundred conscripts from Turkey applied for asylum in Germany and other countries. They went public with their conscientious objection, made it clear in front of the Turkish consulate, at press conferences or on other occasions that they were not willing to serve in the Turkish military, especially in protest against the war then waged in southeast Turkey. In many cases, their applications were initially rejected by the authorities. In some cases, they actually succeeded in obtaining protection under refugee law. Quite often this outcome derived from the fact that they had to expect additional criminal prosecution because of their public conscientious objection.