Sub-sub-series 59 - Osman Murat Ülke 

3 files

Materials pertaining to the case filed by Osman Murat Ülke on 22 January 1997 against the Republic of Turkey with the European Commission of Human Rights (application number 39437/98, assigned to Kevin Boyle as lead and subsequently to Tony Fisher who assigned it reference number TF/LEB/16988/1) complaining that a series of proceedings against him on account of his having claimed the status of conscientious objector, resulting in a number of convictions, had breached Articles 3, 5, 8 and 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Osman Murat Ülke was born in 1970. Until 1985 he lived in Germany, where he completed part of his schooling. He subsequently moved to Turkey, where he continued his education, eventually going on to university. In 1993 he became an active member of the Association of Opponents of War (Savaş Karşıtları Derneği, or SKD), founded in 1992. Until late 1993, Ülke represented the SKD at various international conferences in different countries. After the SKD was dissolved in November 1993, the İzmir War Resisters Association (İzmir Savaş Karşıtları Derneği, or ISKD) was founded and Ülke served as its chairman from 1994 to 1998. In August 1995, Ülke was called up. Invoking his pacifist convictions, he refused to perform military service and publicly burned his call-up papers at a press conference in İzmir on 1 September 1995. On 8 October 1996, he was arrested. On 18 October 1996, he was indicted by the military prosecutor attached to the Ankara Military Court of the General Staff under Article 155 of the Criminal Code and Article 58 of the Military Penal Code, on a charge of inciting conscripts to evade military service. Ülke would be forced to enlist, and on 22 November 1996, he was transferred to the 9th Regiment, attached to the Bilecik gendarmerie command. He refused to wear military uniform or carry out the orders of the regiment’s commanding officer. He was detained in the regimental prison, where he refused to wear prison uniform. Over the next three years, Ülke would be repeatedly arrested and convicted for failing to report for duty, for refusing to wear military uniform, and for refusing to obey military commands. Ülke served a total of 701 days in prison as a result of his various sentences. At the time of trial, he was wanted by the security forces for the execution of his sentence and was currently in hiding, having no official address or any contact with the authorities. He was accommodated by his fiancée’s family and unable to marry her legally or to recognise the son born to them.
On 24 January 2006, the European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that there had been a violation of Article 3 of the Convention (‘No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment’) and that it was unnecessary to provide rulings on complaints under other articles. The Turkish Government was ordered to pay Ülke €10,000 in non-pecuniary damages and €1,000 in legal fees and expenses. The full judgment is available for viewing at https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/?i=001-72146