Council of Europe urges Turkey to adopt legal regulations on conscientious objection

Hacı Bişkin / DUVAR

Human Rights Watch calls on Turkey to halt probes into doctors' COVID-19 remarks

The Council of Europe's Ministers Committee has urged Turkey to adopt legal regulations on the issue of conscientious objection, while also asking for the country to submit an action plan by Sept. 21, 2021.

The committee took the issue back on its agenda following a report it received and held a meeting on the situation of conscientious objectors in Turkey.

The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in January 2006 ruled that Turkey violated the rights of conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke by detaining him numerous times. The committee in 2007 took the issue in its monitoring procedure.

While no progress was made on the issue, the Conscientious Objection Association, Helsinki Freedom of Belief Initiative, War Resisters International, European Bureu of Conscientious Objection and Connection e.V. prepared a report and submitted to the committee recently.

Top rights groups say Council of Europe should urge Turkey to free Osman Kavala

"The assessment of 'civil deaths' made by the ECHR in 2006 regarding conscientious objectors hasn't changed," the report read, while also detailing the problems stemming from legal regulations.

The committee said that the conditions for "civil deaths" still applies since objectors are continued to be punished.

Asking Turkey to stop probing or sentencing objectors, the committee stressed that all the criminal records of the objectors, whose names are included in ECHR rulings, need to be removed until Sept. 1 to prevent further conditions for "civil deaths."

The committee also asked Turkey to give statistics on the sentences handed to objectors.

Merve Arkun from the Conscientious Objection Association commented on the committee's move, saying that it can be the beginning of a new period for objectors.

"The fact that Turkey was asked to submit its defense within a defined time period is a positive development. The pressure created by international mechanisms is important," Arkun told Duvar, adding that the association will release an extensive report on the issue.