Report by Thomas Hammarberg, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe Following his visit to Turkey, from 27 to 29 April 2011

“19. As regards cases concerning convictions for having published statements which were considered to incite abstention from com­pulsory military service, six judgments of the Court against Turkey await execution. Pursuant to Article 318 of the Criminal Code, the non-violent expression of opinions on conscientious objection is still a criminal offence, similar to the former Article 155 which gave rise to these judgments. The Court held that the fact that an article on conscientious objection was published in a newspaper was an indica­tion that it could not be considered as incitement to immediate desertion. This is in contradiction with Article 318, paragraph 2 of the Criminal Code, according to which the publication itself is an aggravating circumstance. The Commissioner is concerned by the fact that the above provision continues to be applied. He has been informed that in June 2010 four persons were sentenced by an Ankara court to imprisonment ranging from 6 to 18 months for having issued a press release in favour of a conscientious objector, Enver Aydemir.”
CommDH(2011)25