Fri 27.04.2007 – “Every Turkish man is born, so they say, a soldier. Fortunately, there are those who refuse to be one, even though Turkey does not recognize the right to conscientious objection. This event sets out to discuss the current situation of conscientious objection movement in Turkey from a historical and socio-political perspective.
After a short introduction about militarism in Turkey, two antimilitarists who have been actively involved in the movement, will talk about the Turkish military structure, the conscription and legal procedure concerning the objectors, the development of the movement since the 1990s, as well as the representation of the refusers in the media. After briefly comparing the Turkish case to those of the Israeli, Spanish and Latin American ones, we would like to discuss strategies for supporting the conscientious objectors from abroad. The evening will finish with a video screening of recent actions and an open debate.”
