This online article was published on Facebook by afoa on 25/11/25.
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Solidarity to conscientious objector Hasan Rahvancioğlu
Announcement by afoa community of struggle, 25.11.2025:
We express our solidarity with Turkish Cypriot conscientious objector Hasan Rahvancioğlu, who will appear before the military court in northern Nicosia on Thursday, 27th of November. Hasan is expected to be fined, which, as he has already announced, he does not intend to pay and will therefore be sent to prison.
The right to conscientious objection in the north is recognized by decisions of the Constitutional Court and the Military Court of Appeal. However, the right has not yet been legislated by the parliament. Only when the relevant law is passed will Turkish Cypriot conscientious objectors cease to be punished.
Despite the ECHR’s 2024 ruling against the Turkish state, following an appeal by conscientious objector Murat Kanatlı for violation of the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, conscientious objection continues to be punished as a crime in the northern part of our country. Since then, conscientious objectors Halil Karapaşaoğlu and Haluk Selam Tufanlı have been imprisoned (their cases are still pending before the ECHR).
The Turkish Cypriot movement for the right to conscientious objection has been an important part of the anti-militarist movement in Cyprus and has placed its struggles within the context of the Turkish Cypriot community’s struggles against Turkish rule in the north and for the reunification of Cyprus and peace in the wider region.
Especially now, when one of the greatest crimes in modern human history is taking place right next to us and Western leaders are stepping up the pace of militarization in order to soon drag humanity into an expanded war, every act of anti-militarist resistance becomes even more necessary and important.
At such a time, the anti-war and anti-militarist movement in Cyprus must be reorganized and expanded, linking the “traditional” radical forces of reunification with the new movements that have emerged through the Palestinian issue.
Starting in our own neighbourhood, we should contribute to networking between groups/organisations in the countries of southern Europe and the eastern Mediterranean, for more effective coordination against the warmongering policies of the states in our region.
Building on the example of conscientious objectors, let us try to prepare and build other struggles of political disobedience.
Let us find ways to deconstruct the “dilemma” of “national duty vs. treason”/ “defence of Western values vs. invasion by Russia/Islam”, which Cypriot society, especially conscripts, will face in the event of a regional or global conflict.
In this context, there is room not only for arguments in favor of peace, but also—and above all—for struggles against the local and foreign puppets of a system that is not content with simply considering us expendable, but also wants to make us want to die for it.