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palestina libera · Beiträge: 1665

When he graduated from college facing the prospect of mandatory national service, Onur Erem emailed the General Staff of Turkey’s armed forces to ask what punishment he would face as a conscientious objector.

A military staff member replied, telling Erem bluntly that he could not avoid service. Erem responded that he knew his pacifist objections were not legally recognised - but he wanted to know what might happen if he did object.

The answer was not straightforward - conscientious objection is still a relatively new concept in Turkey, which has for years required at least six months' service from young men.

Those who have objected have faced arrest, and some have alleged abuse during their time in custody. Meanwhile, calls from the EU that the rights of conscientious objectors be recognised have gone unheeded.
http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/turkeys-conscientious-objectors-fear-post-coup-rise-militarism-761231799

Syrians shifting demographics in Turkey’s Kurdish regions

Five years into the Syrian civil war, not one of Turkey’s 81 provinces is without a refugee community, big or small. The border province of Sanliurfa tops the list in numbers of refugees, with 401,000 Syrians, followed by Istanbul with 394,000. Bartin, on the Black Sea coast, has the fewest, at 27. In terms of region, the southeast has the largest concentration of refugees, with the provinces of Gaziantep, Diyarbakir, Sanliurfa, Batman, Adiyaman, Siirt, Mardin, Kilis and Sirnak hosting a total of slightly more than 1 million Syrians. In other words, more than a third of the 2.75 million Syrians in Turkey live in the southeast, mainly because of kinship and cultural bonds with border communities, among other factors.
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/08/turkey-syria-syrian-refugees-kurdish-region.html