The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Turkey breached the rights of Murat Kanatlı, a Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector, the Turkish Minute reported.
Kanatlı was convicted and imprisoned for refusing a one-day reserve service call-up in 2009 in the occupied north.
A conscientious objector is someone who opposes military service and/or bearing arms due to moral or religious beliefs.
As the ECtHR previously recognised occupied northern Cyprus as a local sub-administration, of Turkey, Kanatlı filed his application against Turkey on April 52015.
He cited Article 9 (right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the Convention on Human Rights. He argued his refusal to perform reserve service was based on conscientious grounds, and that his criminal conviction violated this right.
Kanatlı completed his mandatory year of military service in 2005. He was then called up for one-day reserve service at a military barracks in subsequent years.
He fulfilled his reserve duty in 2006, 2007, and 2008. In 2008, he became the Cypriot representative for the European Bureau for Conscientious Objection (EBCO), founded in 1979 as an umbrella group for national conscientious objector associations.
In 2009, he was elected to EBCO’s executive committee. That same year, he refused reserve service, stating he had become a conscientious objector as of 15th May 2008.
Legal proceedings began against him in 2011. Kanatlı stated his refusal stemmed from his pacifist and anti-militarist beliefs.
He was fined approximately €167 in 2014. Refusing to pay, Kanatlı subsequently served a 10-day prison sentence.
The Strasbourg court ruled on Tuesday that there had been a violation of Kanatlı’s right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The court stated the absence of legislation allowing conscientious objectors to request alternative civilian service breaches the convention.
The court also ordered Turkey to pay Kanatlı €9,000 in non-pecuniary damages and €2,363 for costs and expenses.
