Post by @ErikUden@mastodon.de

2026-10-14 14:58 UTC

Current speaker is Hülya Üçpınar, representative of War Refusal International and human rights lawyer speaking in more detail on the topic of refusing military service in Turkey. The main fact she goes more into detail about is something internationally recognized as “civil death”. People in Turkey refusing military service exist in a legal limbo, collecting legal fees and fines, not being allowed to work, as well as being convicted for the same crime repeatedly, and hence being in every form but the physical one, dead, completely excluded from civil society. She points out the case of journalist Kamil Murat Demir (39) who was apprehended over 120 times, has 11 criminal cases against him with him already being sentenced to over 3 years and 6 months imprisonment for the same crime, over and over again. To answer the question whether evading military service is a class issue. I disagree. The military itself is a class issue. The military system is a business, making money off of people's conscience. [...] I believe that by working together we can turn this potential of refusing war into collective action!”

Replies (1)

@ErikUden@mastodon.de 2026-10-14 15:19

Current speaker is Olga Karach, also a member of War Refusal International, and a feminist who started the “No means no” movement in Belarus, women and men refusing the draft to fight in Lukashenkos wars. She talks about the fact that she expected to receive repercussions from the Lukashenko regime, but never expected such backlash from the European Union. The immigration centers claimed it was too complicated to accept fleeing the draft as a reason to immigrate. “In Belarus, we have the death penalty for desertation. We have a five year prison sentence for human rights activists who help deserters. At the same time, every year about 300 Belarusians are imprisoned for conscientious objection. So many European nations have people asking for political asylum from Belarus in order to not have to fight in this war. Yet in countries like Lithuania, such an application from Belarus deserters is seen as a threat to national security. This official accusation is very absurd: Belarusian conscientious objectors can be recruited by Russia in the future? How is it possible that someone in the European Union can be punished for a potential future? Is this a new kind of law? A passport or a nationality can not be evidence for any threat. It cannot be possible that we now bear the responsibility for the men who have started this war. As Belarusian women, we are responsible for our men! We are already responsible for their health, wellbeing, clothes, cooking. Now, I am hearing, we are responsible for Lukashenkos doing? That's a patriarchal approach by the European Union.” “Peace will not start with negotiations, but humans refusing to kill each other, forcing leaders to start negotiations.”

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