I Said “Don’t
Kill”, Got Locked in Prison
Halil Savda,
YENİ ÖZGÜR POLİTİKA,
23 March
2012
TŰRKIYE
I am writing to you from Ağrı-Diyadin K1
type Closed Prison. I was arrested
at Doğubeyazıt by the police on February
24th , 2012. Police came to the
hotel where I was residing and told me there
was an arrest warrant regarding
accusations of discouraging people from
performing military service. Even
though they said I was being taken into
custody just to give a statement, I
realized that they would proceed to
prosecution due to a previous indictment
in 2006 regarding the same law, Article 318,
against "discouraging people
from performing military service." I will be
kept in prison for 100 days. I
would like to explain briefly why I was
sentenced to 100 days and why I am
currently in prison.
In 2006, the Israeli state attacked Lebanon.
Dozens of Israeli conscientious
objectors who were under obligatory military
service did not participate in
this attack. In order to prevent the death
of Lebanese, Palestinian and
Israeli men, women, children and elderly,
Israeli conscientious objectors
refused to serve in the army and participate
in the war. They were
imprisoned because they didn't want to kill
or die. As anti-war activists in
Turkey, we could not stay silent. On August
1st, 2006, we held a press
conference in front of the General Consulate
of Israel in Istanbul in order
to show our solidarity with our Israeli
conscientious objector brothers and
sisters and protest against Israel's attack
on Lebanon. In our press
release, we declared that we support the
righteous stand of Israeli
conscientious objectors and demand they be
released immediately, as well as
condemned Israel's attack on Lebanon. Due to
this press release, Istanbul
Attorney General started an official
investigation about me; and Sultanahmet
4th Penal Court of Peace sentenced me to 5
month imprisonment on charges of
"discouraging people from performing
military service." The 9th Criminal
High Court approved the decision. I will
remain in prison until June 3rd,
2012.
The press release I made on behalf of
anti-war activists in Turkey did not
even mention the name of Turkey. So what was
the reason the Turkish
judiciary perceived this ingenuous
declaration as a crime? Whereas
Davos-conqueror Prime Minister Tayyip
Erdoğan asserted "one minute!!!"
[English in original] against Israel's
belligerent foreign policies towards
Palestine, and supposedly put them all in
their places. The so-to- speak
independent judiciary that is under the
control of the same Prime Minister
imprisoned me because I protested against
the Israel government's massacres
in Lebanon and expressed solidarity with my
Israeli brothers and sisters who
refused to participate in the military
operations of their government. The
Prime Minister said "one minute" to the
Israel government at Davos, but his
usurper courts did not say "one minute" to
this unjust decision.
On the other hand, those who appoint
themselves as the spokespersons of
Palestinians and burn Israel flags on every
occasion, did not pay attention
to the righteous stand of the Israeli
conscientious objectors and their
unjust punishment, due to anti-Semitic and
hateful mindsets.
Though one aspect of the issue is Israeli
people refusing the war, the real
reason behind the decision of the court was
due to the general attitude of
ignoring conscientious objectors' stand
against occupation and their efforts
for peace, while at the same time punishing
those who support them.
The real issue is the attitude of ignoring
conscientious objection no matter
how justified its reasons are, and the will
to destroy any solidarity
attempts coming out of other countries. That
is to say, even though the
content of the conscientious objection is in
line with the speeches of those
who shed crocodile tears to protect
Palestinian and Lebanese "brothers and
sisters," the fear of conscientious
objection and the perception that it can
turn against their own government one day
make them act so.
The Turkish government, which carries out
occupation policies together with
other states in the guise of "peace
keeping," which organizes belligerent
operations in neighboring countries and
bombs its own people, fears from
"its own conscientious objectors" who act in
the same way and appeal for
solidarity from other countries.
The name of the state being Israel is not
important, since what matters is
the mindset of "today them, tomorrow us"
that leads all states to the same
reaction: To punish disobedience to military
and political positions against
whichever state's army it would be. The
reason behind the current
government's attitude of protecting the
military system, and refraining from
canceling Article 318 of Turkish Criminal
Law that restrains freedom of
thought, is an indication of this fact;
while it was the government that
claimed to have the mission of changing the
September 12th coup d'état's
constitution at the outset.
There is still no right to conscientious
objection in Turkey and all of the
conscientious objectors are subject to
severe punishment as well as a
process of abandonment to civil-death after
punishment.
The Government, which has a strong personal
opinion against conscientious
objection, uses smear campaigns against
individuals and convicts them in
courts. It continues to punish everyone who
stands in solidarity with
conscientious objection in order to prevent
it from spreading widely.
I was sentenced to 6 months prison again
with the indictment of discouraging
people from performing military service by
Ankara 10th Penal Court of First
Instance due to a press release we issued in
Ankara, on January 6th, 2010,
in order to express solidarity with
conscientious objector Enver Aydemir,
who was kept in prison and tortured at that
time. It is certain that this
decision will be approved by the High Court
which monitors it only with
respect to its conformity to law. Without
repealing this law, it is not
possible for me or any other conscientious
objectors or our supporters and
those who criticize the militaristic system
to remain without legal
punishment. Additional to that, I have two
more cases in process opened at
Eskişehir Penal Court of Peace which are
also due to the press conference in
solidarity with conscientious objector Enver
Aydemir. Due to the Article, I
have no chance but to be convicted in those
two cases as well.
Other human rights activists and writers
have been indicted regarding
discouraging people from performing military
service, but usually those
cases end without conviction. The reason I
am convicted over and over again
on the same indictment is because of my
conscientious objector identity that
poses a threat to the system as far as I
continue to speak and to be
considered as an example to other refuseniks.
The system regards those who criticize
militarism and those who support the
ones that oppose militarism as a double
threat when they are at the same
time conscientious objectors. And it
continues to punish them. All of these
are vain attempts to silence our dissident
character and make us feel the
civil-death on our necks all through our
lives. Why should it be a crime to
say "don't kill"?
I will continue to tell people "don't go
into military service" regardless
of the state judging me and punishing me.
Because I know conformist culture
will exist as long as people continue to
serve in the military. Because I
know that without a critique of the army,
demilitarization of the society is
not possible. The fact that I am imprisoned
will not break my will as a
conscientious objector, as a human rights
activist, as a writer and anti-war
activist. I would continue to say "don't
kill" even if I was imprisoned for
10 years, not 100 days. Freedom and peace
will triumph!
Diyadin K1 Type Closed Prison at Diyadin,
AGRI
Halil Savda
English Translation by Çetin Gürer
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