Active sponsor: Carla. Two BLYM members in support: Jude and Richard
Conscientious Objection in Turkey
Turkey is the only member country in the Council of Europe that has not recognised the right of conscientious objection to military service. The state uses many different sanctions to force conscientious objectors to do military service. These sanctions lead to objectors facing arrest warrants, a life-long cycle of prosecutions and imprisonment even a “civil death” which excludes them from social, cultural and economic life.
Conscientious Objectors are still criminalised as draft evaders and a continuous arrest warrant is issued. They often get detained in any ID controls by police/gendarmes due to this arrest warrant. After the first detainment, objectors are given an administrative fine. Every arrest entails a new Article 63 Military Criminal Code procedure, which can result in a sentence from 2 months to 3 years or a fine (which is actually more common). They are forced to live an underground life in order to avoid getting detained/arrested.
The European Court of Human Rights calls the situation conscientious objectors find themselves in “civil death” . (Ulke v. Turkey, application no. 39437/98).
Effect of law on Conscientious Objectors
Turkish Law prevents Conscientious Objectors working in either the public or private sector, as it is a crime to employ a draft evader. Secondly, objectors are forced to be unemployed or work illegally and uninsured. Finally, objectors do not have the right to go to the polls or to be elected in neither local nor general elections.
Deprivations while avoiding new detention
As every arrest entails another criminal case and possibly a prison sentence, objectors have to avoid social, economic, legal, cultural activities like:
- Applying for a passport
- Going to the police/gendarme even when a victim of a crime or accident
- Driving anywhere
- Walking in a main avenue/square or any central place
- Using public transport stations such as train/bus/metro/ferry
- Going to an airport
- Visiting a courthouse or prison, even if they are a lawyer
- Going to polls for voting
People who have religious or conscientious objections against mandatory military service, are facing life-long repeating prison sentences and deprivation of their civil rights.
Conscripts refusing to join the army, but haven’t declared their conscientious objection are also criminalised and subjected to civil death.
Conscientious Objection Association Turkey (VR-DER)
The Conscientious Objection Association Turkey (VR-DER) is an affiliate of War Resisters International (WRI) in London 
https://wri-irg.org/en. It is also a member of the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO-EBOC) 
https://ebco-beoc.org/ in Brussels. EBCO’s second Vice President is a representative from Turkey. EBCO members in Belgium are the Quaker Council for European Affairs (QCEA), Mouvement Chrétien Pour La Paix, Mouvement International de la Réconciliation/Internationale des Résistant–e-s á la Guerre, and Service Civil International. Both QCEA and Quakers United Nations Office (QUNO) Geneva hold status as Observateurs permanents / permanent observers.
“We, as the Conscientious Objection Association Turkey (VR-DER), aim to document the current situation on the right to conscientious objection in Turkey with the Conscientious Objection Bulletin. The bulletin will be published periodically during the year. The first issue of the bulletin was translated to English and it is now online. We hope that we will increase public awareness of the right to conscientious objection with the help of bulletins which will include applications to our Association, new declarations of conscientious objection and up-to-date information on the court cases of conscientious objectors.”