Mehmet Tarhan (born 1978) is a Kurdish

conscientious objector A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to obje ...

who was imprisoned for refusing military service.London Flyer from Refusing to Kill
accessed June 11, 2006. Tarhan had been sentenced to four years in a military prison for disobedience after refusing to wear a military uniform, a sentence that is evidently the longest ever given for such an offense in Turkey. He was released in March 2006 after spending several months in prison. As of 2014, he is a member of the party assembly of the Peoples' Democratic Party and a member of the executive committee of its consultative body Peoples' Democratic Congress.

Life

According to Tarhan, he was born into a Kurdish

peasant A peasant is a pre-industrial agricultural laborer or a farmer with limited land-ownership, especially one living in the Middle Ages under feudalism and paying rent, tax, fees, or services to a landlord. In Europe, three classes of peasan ...

family. At the age of 17 he worked as a government employee in

Diyarbakır Diyarbakır (; ; ; ) is the largest Kurdish-majority city in Turkey. It is the administrative center of Diyarbakır Province. Situated around a high plateau by the banks of the Tigris river on which stands the historic Diyarbakır Fortress, ...

.For there was no shelter under which I could hide...
Interview with Mehmet Tarhan for the Spanish newspaper ''Diagonal'', January 2005, access June 11, 2006. During this time he worked with

KAOS GL KAOS GL, short for Kaos Gay and Lesbian Cultural Research and Solidarity Association ( tr, Kaos Gey ve Lezbiyen Kültürel Araştırmalar ve Dayanışma Derneği), founded in 1994, is one of the oldest and largest LGBT rights organisations in Turke ...

(an independent political and cultural

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term i ...

group) and Lambdaistanbul (a LGBT civil society initiative). He also became involved in and supported anti-military efforts. Tarhan credits his sexual and ethnic identity with causing him to question

militarism Militarism is the belief or the desire of a government or a people that a state should maintain a strong military capability and to use it aggressively to expand national interests and/or values. It may also imply the glorification of the mili ...

. During his days in prison he was offered and accepted to join Jury of Conscience of World Tribunal on Iraq

Conscientious objection

Tarhan first publicly objected to military service in October 2001. At a press conference in

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

he said,Amnesty International public statement
on Mehmet Tarhan, December 9, 2005. Accessed June 11, 2006.

"I condemn every kind of violence and believe that joining or condoning violence will only result in new violence and everyone will be responsible for the consequences. I think that wars caused by power-mongering states are first and foremost a violation of the right to life. The violation of the right to life is a
crime against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...
and no international convention or law can justify this crime, regardless of any rationale. I therefore declare that I won't be an agent of such crime under any circumstances. I will not serve any military apparatus."

Arrest and trial

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, all men face conscription for up to 15 months. Under Turkish law, there is no provision for

conscientious objection A conscientious objector (often shortened to conchie) is an "individual who has claimed the right to refuse to perform military service" on the grounds of freedom of thought, conscience, or religion. The term has also been extended to objecti ...

, even though Turkey is a member of the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmonizi ...

, which acknowledges conscientious objection as a

human right Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

."A question of conscience: Orhan Pamuk defends Turkey's wittiest and most controversial female columnist"
by Orhan Pamuk, ''The Guardian Unlimited'', Books Section, June 3, 2006, accessed June 7, 2006. In January 2006, the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that a ...

(ECHR) sentenced Turkey for violation of article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (prohibition of degrading treatment) in a case dealing with conscientious objection.

Sexual orientation

Tarhan could have avoided military service by stating that he is

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late ...

. However, the Turkish military perceives

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

as an "illness" and requires rectal examination and visual "evidence" to support such a claim. Mehmet did not want to be classified as "ill" and instead sought to be classified as a conscientious objector.

Trial

Tarhan was arrested in April 2005 and tried the next month on charges of insubordination under Article 88 of the

Turkish Military Penal Code Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and ...

. Mehmet was convicted, at which point the military prosecutor released Tarhan, stating that Tarhan had already spent the same amount of time in prison as he would be required to serve if sentenced. However, upon release Tarhan was again told to serve in the military. When he refused, he was again arrested and placed on trial. This time he was sentenced to four years in prison. Tarhan began serving his prison sentence in late 2005. He was unexpectedly released in March 2006. This release is believed to be political in nature due to international pressure becoming bad publicity, as he has not been acquitted and still considered to be "at large"; he can be recaptured and re-imprisoned at the whim of the authorities. According to Tarhan's sister, Emine Tarhan, Tarhan had been tortured in prison and his life threatened by other inmates.

World reaction

Protests in support of Tarhan have been held around the world. and his imprisonment has attracted the attention of organizations like Amnesty International. Turkish author and poet

Perihan Magden Perihan is a Turkish female name from Persian origin. Perihan is combined of two Persian words: ''peri'', which literally means fairy and generally refers to a beautiful young woman, and ''han'', which means queen in old Persian. Perihan may refer ...

was prosecuted and acquitted in

for writing a column in support of Tarhan and his call for

."The Perihan Magden case"
by Alev Adil, ''New Statesman'', Accessed June 7, 2006.