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Dear sisters and brothers,
We recently sent you Action Alerts urging support for Mehmet Tarhan,
a conscientious objector and a gay man, detained since 8 April in
the military prison of Sivas (Turkey), where he has been brutally
attacked (
http://www.refusingtokill.net/Turkey/ReleaseMehmet.htm
).
When Mr Tarhan appeared before a military court on 9 June,
the judge released him – a great victory, including for the
international movement that is supporting him. But the military
immediately detained him again, in open violation of international
law, and sent him back to Sivas military prison. He now faces
another trial on 4 August, so your support is urgently needed now,
to insist that all the charges against Mr Tarhan be dropped and that
he be released immediately from jail.
Mr Tarhan went on a 28-day hunger-strike in protest against
his treatment in prison, and on 21 June won his demands: a cell of
his own to protect him from abuse by other prisoners, to receive his
mail regularly, access to books, to make his own tea, a TV, and an
examination by civilian physicians who visited him and declared him
in good health. The necessary treatment following his hunger strike
has now begun.1
So far we have received copies of
protest letters to the Turkish authorities from Argentina, Germany,
Ireland, Italy, Poland, UK and US. Notably, Stephen Funk, a gay man
who was the first US soldier to publicly refuse to serve in Iraq,
wrote to the Turkish government (http://www.refusingtokill.net/Turkey/MehmetFunkLetter.htm
). And there have been demonstrations in Frankfurt and Athens. On
12 July, day of a court hearing, Payday and Wages Due Lesbians
organised protests in front of the Turkish embassy and consulates in
London, New York
and Venice.
We, and others, have lobbied
Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), and many have
declared their support. Given the negotiations for Turkey’s entry
into the European Union, MEPs’ intervention is crucial in securing
Mr Tarhan’s safety.
In Turkey there have been marches for Mr Tarhan on Harbiye military
and Incirlik air bases; banners, flyers and chanting at May day
rallies in Istanbul, Ankara, Izmir, Antalya
and Malatya; readings from his prison letter at the
Izmir anti-militarism festival; letter writing campaigns; press
conferences/demonstrations; and support in the court itself. Many
organizations are involved: antimilitarists, lesbian & gay, women’s
and human rights groups, anarchists. We must not forget that behind
the persecution of brother Tarhan are the immense, and hidden,
number of draft evaders – 350,000 – many refusing to serve in
Turkey’s war against Kurdish people.2
Mehmet Tarhan and his supporters in Turkey need to know that people
are organising internationally to protect his life and have his
right to conscientious objection upheld. We urge you to write
letters or postcards to:
Mehmet Tarhan, 5. Piyade Egitim Tugayi, Askeri Cezaevi,
Temeltepe – Sivas, Turkey
Finally, we urge you to write (again) to the
Turkish authorities, pressing for his immediate and unconditional
release. We rely on him continuing his determined campaign
against war, free from restriction and persecution.
1 War Resisters International, CO-alert, 22 June 2005
2 Quaker Council for European Affairs: The Right to
Conscientious Objection in Europe: A Review of the Current
Situation, 2005.
MODEL
LETTER
28 June 2005
To:
General Staff
Presidency of Turkey Republic
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Minister of the Interior Abdulkadir Aksu
Minister for Justice Cemil Çiçek
Sivas Military Prison
Re: Conscientious Objector Mehmet Tarhan, illegally
detained by Turkish army
We write to you about Mehmet Tarhan, a gay man and conscientious
objector, detained since 8 April in the military prison of Sivas,
Turkey. Encouraged by prison staff, other prisoners have repeatedly
beaten, humiliated and threatened Mr Tarhan with death, even in
front of his lawyer. When Mr Tarhan went before the military court
on June 9, he could not walk properly and his body was covered in
bruises.
As you know, the judge released Mr Tarhan
because he had ”already spent two
months in prison, which is about the time he would have to serve in
prison if finally sentenced”1.
However, he was returned to detention, first to Sivas military
hospital, and then to Sivas military prison.
Mr Tarhan should never have been jailed in the
first place. It is a scandal that he had to go on hunger strike for
28 days in order to win elementary human rights like equal
treatment with, and protection from, other prisoners, and
examination and treatment by independent doctors.
The Turkish military and civilian authorities must guarantee his
safety. An independent inquiry must establish who is responsible
for inciting and perpetrating violent acts against Mr Tarhan while
in detention, and they must be brought to justice.
We are outraged to hear that Mr Tarhan, having again refused to
serve, is to be put on trial a second time, on 12 July(deferred to 4
August).
The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in the
case of another Turkish conscientious objector, Osman Murat Ulke,
stated that any detention of a conscientious objector after an
initial detention following a first act of refusal is "arbitrary,
being contrary to article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights"3.
Mr Tarhan is exercising his right to conscientious objection
under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Turkey is a party. And
the Committee of Ministers to Member States of the Council of Europe
Regarding Conscientious Objection to Compulsory Military Service
states that, "Anyone liable to conscription for military service
who, for compelling reasons of conscience, refuses to be involved in
the use of arms, shall have the right to be released from the
obligation to perform such service”4.
This cycle of detention, torture, trial, mock release and detention
is illegal and must be stopped. The judge’s ruling of 9 June must
be upheld.
Mr Olli Rehn, Commissioner for
Enlargement Policy of the European Union, has pledged to take
up Mr Tarhan’s case. Other MEPs, including Michael Cashman, the
President of the European Parliament's Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian
Rights, Caroline Lucas from the Greens and Vittorio Agnoletto from
the United Left have already made representations to the Turkish
government. Amnesty International considers Mehmet Tarhan to be a
prisoner of conscience.
We demand the immediate recognition of
conscientious objector status and unconditional release for Mehmet
Tarhan and all other Turkish conscientious objectors, including
Ersan Ugur Gor, Erdem Yalcinkaya, Mustafa Seyhoglu and Hasan
Cimen who were arrested following Mr Tarhan’s trial.
Yours for refusing to kill,
Dean Kendall Michael Kalmanovitz
Payday US Payday UK
1 War Resisters International, CO-alert, 10 June 2005
2
Suna Coşkun, Mehmet Tarhan’s lawyer, at 17 June 2005 press
conference
3 Opinion 36/1999
4 Recommendation No. R (87) 8
CC:
Olli Rehn, Commissioner for enlargement policy of the European Union
Alvaro Gil-Robles,
Commissioner for Human Rights, Council of
Europe
Trevor Stevens,
Executive Secretary, Committee for the
Prevention of Torture, Council of Europe
Michael Cashman MEP, President of the European Parliament's
Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights
Adamos Adamou MEP, Vittorio Agnoletto MEP,
Giovanni Berlinguer MEP, Fausto Bertinotti MEP, Emma Bonino
MEP, Paulo Casaca MEP,
Giulietto Chiesa MEP, Daniel Cohn-Bendit
MEP,
Richard Falbr MEP,
Massimo D’Alema MEP,
Antonio Di Pietro MEP, Hélène Flautre MEP, Monica Frassoni MEP, Lili
Gruber MEP, Jean Lambert MEP,
Enrico Letta MEP,
Caroline Lucas MEP
, Helmuth Markov MEP, Erik Meijer MEP, Luisa Morgantini MEP,
Roberto Musacchio MEP
, Marco
Pannella MEP,
Dimitris Papadimoulis MEP,
Miguel Portas MEP,
Tobias Pflüger MEP,
Miloslav Ransdorf
MEP, Raul Romeva
MEP, Heide
Ruehle MEP, Eva-Britt Svensson MEP, Kyriacos Triantaphyllides MEP,
Gabi Zimmer MEP. |
