Turkey: Human rights NGOs call to remove Article 318

Seven Turkish organizations working to defend human rights, including the Human Rights Association (İHD), Helsinki Citizens Assembly (HYD) and the Conscientious Objection Platform, have joined forces to demand the removal of article 318 from the Turkish Penal Code (TCK), which hands down prison sentences for the alleged crime of ?alienating people from military service?.

In a campaign alongside the Initiative Against Thought Crime, KAOS GL, Pink Life and Say Stop To Racism and Nationalism, close to a thousand signatures have been collected so far.

Gökhan Gençay from the newspaper Birgün is on trial for 318
İHD Ankara Branch Conscientious Objection Work Group announced that among the signatories are academicians, writers artists and activists of the likes of Adnan Özyalçıner, Akın Birdal, Baskın Oran, Doğan Özkan, Eren Keskin, Halil Savda, Lale Mansur, Mehmet Atak, Mehmet Bal, Mehmet Tarhan, Osman Murat Ülke, Pınar Selek, Sennur Sezer, Şanar Yurdatapan.

İHD also announced that Gökhan Gençay, the editor of the Sunday supplement of the newspaper Birgün, is on trial for violating article 301 by publishing an interview entitled ?Let us drain the human source of wars? with the conscientious objector Erkan Bolat on October 30, 2005, and that the hearing was held on May 21st in the 2nd Criminal Court of First Instance of Beyoğlu .

?Government should make a reform and keep its promise?
It was stated that although Turkey is a founding member of the European Council, it is the only member among 47 that does not recognize conscientious objection as a constitutional right.

The organizations asked Turkey, which was convicted by the European Human Rights Court (EHRC) at the case opened by conscientious objector Osman Murat Ülke, to keep its promise to the European Council that it would change its laws regarding this subject by 2007.

While demanding that all the obstacles and pressures the conscientious objectors are facing be removed, the 18th article of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the 9th article of the European Convention on Human Rights are implemented, the organizations also want to stop the merging of article 318 with the prevention of terrorism act in order to raise the sentence for this offence.

The last section of the campaign text is as follows:
??I declare one more time that I see the acts of disobedience to injustice by those who are facing this charge within the bounds of democratic and free expression of thought and the declaration which is the subject of the September 20, 2007 trial the implementation of this right, and that I support this.?

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