Mehmet Tarhan

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Mehmet Tarhan (* 1978 ) is a Turkish government employee who was imprisoned for conscientious objection. Tarhan was sentenced to the maximum sentence of four years in a military prison. In 2006, he was released after several months in prison.

Sexual orientation

During his time as a government employee, Tarhan worked with KAOS GL (an independent political and cultural LGBT movement ) and Lambda Istanbul . The homosexual Tarhan stated that his sexual orientation was the motive for his questioning of military service.

The Turkish military regards homosexuality as a "psychosexual illness" and requires "rectal exam" and visual " evidence " to prove homosexuality. Tarhan did not want to be classified as "sick" and instead sought to be considered a conscientious objector. This earned him jail time, which sparked international criticism.

International reactions

His imprisonment provoked numerous protests inside and outside Turkey. B. from human rights organizations such as Amnesty International and the Turkish Nobel Prize winner Orhan Pamuk .

The Turkish journalist and writer Perihan Mağden has been brought to trial in Turkey for writing a column in support of Tarhan and calling for conscientious objection to military service . She also lost her job.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b " 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.
  2. ↑ a b London Flyer from Refusing to Kill , accessed June 11, 2006.
  3. ↑ Author stands trial on charges of turning Turks against military service ( Memento of the original from July 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Susan Fraser, The New Anatolian , via Associated Press, June 8, 2006, Access June 11, 2006. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thenewanatolian.com
  4. ↑ "A question of conscience: Orhan Pamuk defends Turkey's wittiest and most controversial female columnist"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. by Orhan Pamuk, The Guardian Unlimited , Books Section, June 3, 2006, accessed June 7, 2006.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / books.guardian.co.uk  
  5. ^ A b Popham, Peter: Leading Turkish writer faces jail after incurring wrath of military , The Independent. June 7, 2006. Archived from the original on October 15, 2007 Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Retrieved December 29, 2007. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / news.independent.co.uk 
  6. ↑ Amnesty International public statement on Mehmet Tarhan, December 9, 2005. Accessed June 11, 2006.
  7. ↑ The Perihan Magden case by Alev Adil, New Statesman , Accessed June 7, 2006.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tarhan, Mehmet
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Turkish conscientious objector
DATE OF BIRTH 1978