Antimilitarist Slogan Found "Not Guilty"

In Eskisehir province, a court dismissed the charges for Halil Savda, Mehmet Atak, Ahmet Aydemir and  Fatih Tezcan for "disfavoring the military in the eyes of public" after the four individuals shouted publicly an antimilitarist slogan to support their conscientious rejector friend Enver Aydemir.

Defendants stood before trial for the eighth time today, charged with "disfavoring the military in the eyes of public" according to Turkish Penal Code Article 318. The charges were made due to their slogan "Nobody is born as a soldier, everybody is born as a child", a statement criticizing the long time militarist motto "Every Turkish child is born as a soldier".

"Even though the court ruled to dismiss defendants' charges due to freedom of expression, it made further remarks saying that Article 318 is necessary for the Turkish Penal Code," Senem Doğanoğlu, defendants' attorney, told bianet

Doğanoğlu said the court considered the case according to Articles 18 and 19 in the Declaration of Human Rights, Articles 9 and 10 in the European Declaration of Human Rights, and Article 25 in the Turkish Constitution.

"The judge underlined the importance of pluralism and tolerance that even included disturbing options under its umbrella. He further emphasized that these principles were keeping us peacefully together," she said. (EKN)