Conscientious objector Halil Savda received a five-month prison sentence under article 318 of the Turkish Criminal Law (TCK) because of a press release critic of Israel's invasion of Lebanon.

In a press statement made on 1 August 2006 in front of the embassy in Istanbul, Savda had supported the Israeli conscientious objectors Itzik Shabbat and Amir Paster.

Various institutions and committees released a press statement to protest the prison sentences handed down to Savda and other conscientious objectors. Savda's sentence was upheld and finalized by the Court of Appeals.

The press release was organized by the Amargi Istanbul Collective on Thursday (3 March) and read out by Ayça Damgacı and Ayşe Lebriz. "A crime such as 'alienating the public from military service' is irrational", they said.

At the end of the statement, Şanar Yurdatapan from the Freedom of Thought Initiative, Peace Parliament Member Hakan Tahmaz and Kemal Acar from the Conscientious Objection for Peace Platform demanded to remove Article 318 from the TCK.

Article 318 TCK

Article 318 of the amended TCK was enforced on 1 June 2005 as a replacement of Article 155 of the former TCK. It stipulates:

(1) Anyone who instigates, recommends or spreads propaganda which results in discouraging people from performing military service shall be sentenced to imprisonment of from six months to two years. (2) If the act is committed through press and publications, the penalty shall be increased by one half.

Conscientious objection

Conscientious objection is defined as the refusal of "compulsory military service" based on religious, moral or political reasons. If a person also refuses an alternative civil service, this is called "total rejection".

In the context of the case of Osman Murat Ülke, the European Courts of Human Rights (ECHR) decreed in 2006 that a full deprivation of all public rights dooms the convict to 'civil death'. Nevertheless, Turkish laws were not amended accordingly. Article 318 is the basis for trials against conscientious objectors as well as journalist and activists that advocate for the right to conscientious objection.

The Council of Europe includes 47 countries and Turkey is one of two member states that do not recognize the right to conscientious objection. About 150 people in Turkey announced their conscientious objection until the present. (MS/EÜ/VK)