Conscientious Objector's Relatives Also Persecuted

Five people are facing trial over charges of "alienating the public from the military service" on the grounds of their support for conscientious objector Enver Aydemir when they attended the hearing of Aydemir in 2010.

The defendants include Aydemir's father Ahmet Aydemir as well as his lawyer Davut Erkan. They are tired under Article 318 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK).

In the indictment, Public Prosecutor Hasan Ali Aydın based the charges of "propaganda and attending an event that alienated the public from military service" on the slogans shouted during a press release made at Aydemir's hearing on 21 January 2010.

Some of these slogans were "Conscientious objectors for peace", "Nobody is born as a soldier" or "Release Enver Aydemir".

Aydemir's father and lawyer Erkan are tried together with writer Fatih Tezcan, director Mehmet Atak and conscientious objector Halil Savda. The first hearing is scheduled for 12 April.

A further 19 people stood trial for organizing an event in Ankara to show solidarity for Aydemir. The prosecutor had pled for their acquittal. Nevertheless, Volkan Sevinç was handed down a 1.5 year prison sentence; Gökçe Otlu Sevimli, Halil Savda and Zarife Ferda Çakmak were each sentenced to imprisonment of six months each.

Conscientious objector İnan Suver still in prison

Aydemir, conscientious objector for religious reasons, was released in June 2010 after three years of torture, oppression and punishments. Kurdish conscientious objector İnan Suver is still detained at the Kütahya Gediz Prison.

Turkey is one of three countries among 28 NATO member states and 47 members of the Council of Europe that do not recognize the right to conscientious objection. According to the Turkish Pacifists website, there are about 300 conscientious objectors in Turkey. In a press release issued in Istanbul on 24 January, it was announced that another 63 people refused to do their military service.

Policemen exempt from military service, conscientious objectors on trial

The discussion on a "New Constitution" does not touch upon a regulation for "conscientious objection". A regulation regarding the exemption of police officers from military service will be enforced in the coming week though.

Minister of the Interior Beşir Atalay announced, "There are currently about 38,000 police officers who are not doing their military service. Another 2,500 police officers are doing their military service right now. Those ones will be discharged as soon as the law has been enforced. After that, police officers will entirely be exempt from military service". (EÇ/EÖ)