STRASBOURG, France—On November 22, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) unanimously concluded that Turkey has violated the right of freedom of conscience of Mr. Yunus Erçep, one of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Turkey, who was convicted and imprisoned for his conscientious objection to military service.

Yunus Erçep, a university graduate and a skilled craftsman, was first called up for military duty in March 1998. The government of Turkey does not recognize conscientious objection to military service and therefore has no provision for alternative civilian service. Erçep’s Bible-based conscientious refusal to perform military service has resulted in unceasing harassment—he has been called up for military service three times a year (39 times from 1998 to the present). He has consistently presented himself for every enlistment call-up, and has been prosecuted over 30 times on the charge of bakaya (evasion of enlistment). As a result, Erçep has been imprisoned, confined to a psychiatric hospital for supposed “religious paranoia,” and fined. He has endured years of verbal abuse at the hands of enlistment officers, prison officials, and fellow prisoners.

After the courts in Turkey refused to offer relief, Mr. Erçep filed an application to the ECHR in December 2004. In its decision, the Court, observing that Turkey had no provision for alternative civilian service, stated that “the penalties imposed on the applicant, while there was nothing in place to take into account the requirements of his conscience and his convictions, cannot be considered a necessary measure in a democratic society.”

This decision closely follows the landmark decision of the European Court’s Grand Chamber released on July 7, 2011, in Bayatyan v. Armenia, upholding Mr. Bayatyan’s right to refuse military service due to his Bible-trained conscience. The court’s decision in the case of Mr. Erçep places an obligation on Turkey, a member state of the Council of Europe, to stop prosecuting and imprisoning individuals whose deeply held religious convictions do not allow them to engage in military service.

Media Contacts:

J. R. Brown, Office of Public Information, tel. +1 718 560 5600

Turkey: Ahmet Yorulmaz, tel. +90 535 742 63 14

Belgium: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +32 2 782 0015

Britain: European Association of Jehovah’s Christian Witnesses, tel. +44 208 906 2211

Legal Contact: Office of General Counsel, tel. +1 845 306 0711

 

Source: http://www.jw-media.org/tur/20111123.htm