ECtHR rejects Turkey’s appeal over Cypriot conscientious objector

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on Tuesday rejected Turkey’s appeal against its ruling that the country had violated the human rights of a Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector who refused conscription in the north.

The Kanatli v Turkey case was finalised in March this year, with the court finding that Cypriot conscientious objector Murat Kanatli’s right to “freedom of thought, conscience and religion”, as set out in Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights, had been violated when he was prosecuted and then jailed in the north for refusing to be conscripted.

As such, the court ordered that the Turkish government pay Kanatli €9,000 “in respect of non-pecuniary damage” and €2,363 in court costs and other expenses.

However, as a Council of Europe spokesperson confirmed to the Cyprus Mail, the Turkish government filed an appeal, requesting that the case be referred to the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber.

However, the Grand Chamber on Tuesday announced it had rejected the Turkish government’s request for the case to be referred to them, and as such, the original ruling is now final.

Reacting to the ruling, Kanatli said, “another important milestone has been reached in the fight for conscientious objection in northern Cyprus.”

He then juxtaposed the Turkish Cypriot authorities’ reliance on the ECtHR regarding property and the Immovable Property Commission (IPC) against his own case and the same authorities’ thus far rejection of conscientious objection as a concept, singling out Turkish Cypriot leader Ersin Tatar and the north’s ‘prime minister’ Unal Ustel and ‘foreign minister’ Tahsin Ertugruloglu.

“At this stage, the situation is as follows: how many days have Ersin, Unal, and Tahsin been making statements one after another about how important the ECtHR is, how important the Council of Europe is, about how the ECtHR has recognised the IPC, so what will their attitude be in cases they lose?”

Kanatli has refused to report for military service in the north since 2009, and was sentenced to 10 days in prison by a military court. He initially applied to the ECtHR in 2015.

While the Turkish Cypriot armed forces are nominally independent of the Turkish armed forces, Kanatli applied for the case to be taken against Turkey in light of previous ECtHR decisions which had described the north as “a sub-administration of Turkey”.

Kanatli is one of a number of conscientious objectors who have refused to accept mandatory conscription in the north.

The concept of conscientious objection to military service is not currently recognised in the north’s laws, and as a result, all refusal to engage in military service is automatically considered a criminal act.

A bill had been tabled in ‘parliament’ in January which would have legalised conscientious objection, but it was voted down by ‘MPs’ from all three ruling coalition parties.

The bill was tabled as another conscientious objector, Mustafa Hurben, had been taken to court over his refusal to partake in military service.

He was eventually jailed after refusing to pay an 800TL fine, which was worth €24 at the time.