Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector chooses jail over paying fine

A military court in north Cyprus on Thursday refused to recognise a 33-year-old Turkish Cypriot as a conscientious objector and instead imposed a fine which the defendant refused to pay, choosing instead to face 20 days imprisonment.

The court ordered the payment of a fine of 2,000 Turkish Lira – around €360 – and a prison sentence of 20 days should Halil Karapasiaoglou, fail to pay the fine by 14 January.

I will not pay the fine. I refuse. In 10 days, I will return and go to jail for 20 days, Karapasiaoglou said to news men after the hearing.

Speaking to dozens of people who gathered outside in solidarity, he said;

If I pay the fine there will be no meaning to what I am trying to do. I am ashamed to be living in a country which claims to be the most democratic of all.

The Turkish Cypriot has refused to report for reserve army duty for the past four years for ideological reasons, landing him with four open cases for which he was found guilty on Thursday.

In response, two more Turkish Cypriots, the president and general secretary of the press workers union (Basin Sen), declared that they too would refuse to do reserve duty.

On Wednesday, Karapasiaoglou said that if he was imprisoned, he would seek recourse at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), as the failure of the authorities in the TRNC to recognise the right to conscientious objection, was in violation of European and international human rights standards.