EIGHTEEN MEPS DEMAND MEHMET TARHAN'S RELEASE

To the Turkish President, AHMET NECDET SEZER,
the Prime Minister RECEP TAYYIP ERDOGAN,
the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Prime Minister ABDULLAH GÜL

December 8, 2005

RELEASE MEHMET TARHAN
Civil rights groups and Organisations from the USA, Great Britain, Israel, Germany, Italy, Finland, the Netherlands, Poland, Serbia &
Montenegro, France, Turkey and other countries will show their solidarity on the 9th December on behalf of the detained conscientious objector Mehmet Tarhan.

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, hereby express our deepest concern on the case of Mehmet Tarhan who is being denied his right to conscientious objection, as set forth in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Mehmet Tarhan declared his conscientious objection on 27 October 2001 and has been continuing anti-war activities ever since - publicly and outspokenly, without going into hiding. It is because of these activities that he was charged with "Insubordination in front of the unit". In August 2005 he was then convicted to four years in prison on the basis of Article 88 of the Turkish Military Penal Code (TACK). This is the heaviest sentence a conscientious objector has ever been subjected to in Turkey. It is a step backwards with regards to the human rights situation in Turkey and should therefore be mentioned in the upcoming reports by the EU Commission on Turkey.

Mehmet Tarhan was arrested on 8 April 2005 and has been imprisoned in the Military Prison of Sivas where he was facing death threats, severe abuse and blackmail attempts by other prisoners which have been encouraged and supported by prison guards. Prison authorities so far have not reacted to Mehmet Tarhans´s complaints. As it seems only a formal complaint procedure by his lawyer would stand a chance for his complaints to even get recorded. But still Mehmet Tarhan remains the target of threats and assaults. He was forcibly transferred to a military hospital where he was brutally undressed and forced to wear a uniform against his will. Due to the repeated and grave mistreatment, Mehmet Tarhan now suffers from several health problems.

We, the undersigned Members of the European Parliament, call for the immediate release of Mehmet Tarhan and for his exemption from military service. For the time that he remains in prison, we call on you to ensure that he will not be mistreated.

Mehmet Tarhan´s arrest, the abuse he has been subjected to in military prison and the charges brought against him are violations of the human right to conscientious objection, the human right on freedom of movement and the human right on freedom from cruel and inhuman treatment according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

We call on Turkey to adhere to the obligations deriving from Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which Turkey is a signatory state. Conscientious objection is a human right, and we call on Turkey to ensure the constitutional recognition of this right.

We therefore urge you to exert your influence and to take appropriate action in order to ensure the immediate release from prison of Mehmet Tarhan as well as of all other conscientious objectors who have been imprisoned in Turkey, and towards the recognition of the right to conscientious objection

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First signatures:

PFLÜGER, Tobias, MEP
LUCAS Caroline, MEP
FIGUEIREDO, Ilda, MEP
RÜHLE, Heide, MEP
PAPADIMOULIS Dimitris, MEP
BRIE, André, MEP
TARABELLA, Marc, MEP
UCA, Feleknas, MEP
SVENSSON, Eva-Britt, MEP
ROMEVA Raúl, MEP
LYOTARD, Kartika, MEP
WAGENKNECHT, Sahra, MEP
IN'T VELD Sophie, MEP
KAUFMANN Sylvia-Yvonne, MEP
MATSAKIS Marios, MEP
MASTALKA Jiri, MEP
HASSI Satu, MEP
LAMBERT, JEAN, MEP