EBCO - European Bureau for Conscientious Objection

07/10/2026

📢 Call for Solidarity: Turkey | Write to imprisoned conscientious objector Deniz Hikmet Hazer

We are standing in solidarity with Deniz Hikmet Hazer, a conscientious objector and LGBTIQ+ activist who was arrested for defending peace and life against militarism, patriarchy, and heteronormative oppression in Turkey.

Conscientious Objection Watch (Vicdani Ret İzleme) and War Resisters’ International (War Resisters' International) are launching a letter campaign to let Deniz know she is not alone and to break through the prison walls with our solidarity. You can support Deniz by sending a letter or a message of solidarity.

Send a Letter by Post⬇️
You can send your letters directly to the prison address:

Recipient: Hikmet Hazer
Address: Söke Kapalı Cezaevi - Revir Koğuşu, Yuvaca, Boynak Sokak No:2/7, 09220 Söke / Aydın, TURKEY

❗️Important Note: Deniz does not speak English. If you write in English or another language, please attach a Turkish translation if possible. This way, Deniz can read your letter directly.❗️

Send an Online Message⬇️
If you cannot send a letter by post, you can send your message through an online form. We will collect all messages and deliver them to Deniz.

Click the link below or in our bio to send your solidarity message⬇️
https://shorturl.at/XyrBc

Solidarity across borders! 🌈✊️☮️

📢 Send Your Solidarity Letters to Imprisoned Activist and Conscientious Objector Deniz Hikmet Hazer

We are standing in solidarity with Deniz Hikmet Hazer, a conscientious objector and LGBTIQ+ activist who was arrested for defending peace and life against militarism, patriarchy, and heteronormative oppression in Turkey.

Conscientious Objection Watch and War Resisters’ International are launching a letter campaign to let Deniz know she is not alone and to break through the prison walls with our solidarity. You can support Deniz by sending a letter or a message of solidarity.

Send a Letter by Post⬇️
You can send your letters directly to the prison address:

Address:

Hikmet Hazer
Söke Kapalı Cezaevi - Revir Koğuşu
Yuvaca, Boynak Sokak No:2/7, 09220 Söke/Aydın, TURKEY

❗️Important Note: Deniz does not speak English. If you write in English or another language, please attach a Turkish translation if possible. This way, Deniz can read your letter directly.❗️

Send an Online Message⬇️
If you cannot send a letter by post, you can send your message through our online form. We will collect all messages and deliver them to Deniz.

Click the link below to send your solidarity message⬇️
https://shorturl.at/XyrBc

Solidarity across borders! 🌈✊️☮️

25/09/2026

📢 Conscientious objector Hasan Rahvancıoğlu was sentenced to pay 8,000 TL for refusing military service in Cyprus. This comes despite clear rulings from the European Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court affirming the right to conscientious objection, and despite ongoing calls for legal reform.

Kıbrıs'ta vicdani ret, an EBCO member, continues to demand that this right be guaranteed in law. Until then, objectors remain at risk of prosecution and punishment simply for their beliefs.

Conscientious objection is a human right!

23/09/2026

Vicdani retçi Hasan Rahvancıoğlu cezaevi yolunda!

Avrupa İnsan Hakları Mahkemesi “Kanatlı – Türkiye (2024)” kararında, Kıbrıs’ın kuzeyinde vicdani ret hakkının tanınmamasını hak ihlali olarak değerlendirdi. Anayasa Mahkemesi ve Askeri Yargıtay kararlarında da vicdani ret hakkı açıkça tanındı. Çok sayıda siyasi parti ve örgüt bu hakkın yasal güvence altına alınması çağrısında bulundu, Meclis’te gerekli yasa değişiklikleri konuşuldu.
Tüm bunlara rağmen vicdani retçiler hala yargılanmaya devam ediyor.
Yasa değişikliği görüşmelerinde de belirttiğimiz ve, Anayasa Mahkemesi kararında da açıkça işaret edildiği üzere gerekli yasal düzenlemeyi yapmak yasa koyucunun sorumluluğundadır. Bu düzenleme hayata geçirilmediği sürece vicdani retçiler yargılanmaya ve hapis tehdidiyle karşı karşıya kalmaya devam edecektir.
Hasan Rahvancıoğlu hakkındaki yargı süreçleri artık son aşamaya gelmiştir. Vicdani retçi Rahvancıoğlu’nun yeniden suçlu bulunması halinde cezaevine girme ihtimali bulunmaktadır.
Vicdani ret hakkının tanınması yönünde mahkeme kararları, siyasi çağrılar ve yasa değişikliği tartışmaları ortadayken bir vicdani retçinin hala hapis tehdidi altında olması kabul edilemez.
Kıbrıs’ta Vicdani Ret İnisiyatifi olarak tüm antimilitaristleri, barış aktivistlerini ve vicdani ret hakkını savunan herkesi, 24 Eylül Perşembe günü saat 12.00’de Lefkoşa Askeri Mahkemesi’nde görülecek duruşmada Hasan Rahvancıoğlu ile dayanışmaya çağırıyoruz.
“Yurt ödevimiz barış, vicdani ret hakkımızdır.”
Vicdani ret hakkının yasal güvence altına alınması ve hiçbir vicdani retçinin düşünceleri nedeniyle hapis tehdidiyle karşı karşıya kalmaması için mücadelemizi sürdürme kararlılığımızı bir kez daha vurguluyoruz.

Kıbrıs’ta Vicdani Ret İnisiyatifi

23 Eylül 2026

22/09/2026

In 1961, thousands of people walked from Perugia to Assisi for Italy’s first March for Peace. At the march, Aldo Capitini introduced the seven-colour Peace Flag that became a symbol of the Italian peace movement - building on an older tradition of multicoloured peace flags used in peace and anti-nuclear demonstrations.

The message on his glasses reads:
“Let’s bury atom bombs – not humanity.”

Too often, leaders pursue power at the expense of the people they are meant to protect. But there are more of us willing to defend human dignity and demand something better.
There’ll always be those who choose power over people. We’re choosing people.

22/09/2026

18/09/2026

📢Conscientious objector trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer was arrested following simultaneous police operations targeting LGBTQI+ associations and activists in Turkey.

Vicdani Ret İzleme
War Resisters' International

Conscientious objector trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer was arrested following simultaneous police operations targeting LGBTQI+ associations and activists in .

As part of an investigation conducted under the name "My Family is Safe", police raids were carried out last weekend across various cities in Turkey, targeting the homes of LGBTQI+ individuals, association offices, and local businesses. The Ministry of Justice announced that legal proceedings have been initiated against 162 people, 9 associations, and 13 businesses in 15 cities. Recent data show that a journalist and 7 board and audit members of Kaos GL Association were arrested in Ankara, 27 people in Mersin, and 5 people in Aydın. In İstanbul, over 100 people remain in police custody.

Among those arrested is trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer, who declared conscientious objection last year on December 10, Human Rights Day, stating: "The state demands that I obey, remain silent, and hand over my body and identity to military purposes. But I do not obey. I refuse violence. I refuse militarism." We are deeply concerned by this arrest which we learned about through our member organization Conscientious Objection Watch in Turkey and by the escalating wave of repression.

Militarism and the heteronormative state logic always walk hand in hand. These operations, carried out under the guise of "security", are an extension of militarist control mechanisms into homes and streets; their aim is to fuel hatred while establishing control over bodies, identities, and living spaces. As Deniz highlighted in their conscientious objection declaration, conscientious objection is not only a rejection of militarist violence, but also an objection to the patriarchal control regime surrounding our bodies and identities.

The stigmatisation of detained and arrested activists is an alarming attack on civic space and freedom of association. We demand the immediate release of all detained and arrested human rights defenders.

As War Resisters’ International, we express our solidarity with the LGBTQI+ movement and all human rights defenders in Turkey, and we support the international call for solidarity on September 18 against this climate of repression. Defending existence and freedom against violence, militarism, and hatred is not a crime.

We stand with conscientious objector trans activist Deniz Hikmet Hazer, arrested in these operations in Turkey, and with all those resisting policies of hatred.

Read our statement on our website here: https://wri-irg.org/en/story/2026/solidarity-against-crackdown-lgbtqi-people-turkey-conscientious-objector-trans-activist

04/06/2026

We stand in solidarity with Hasan Rahvancioglu and all conscientious objectors in Cyprus! ☮️
Update: The trial has been postponed to September 24 2026, at 12:00.

17/05/2026

On International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, Al Jazeera’s explains what it means for people who object to fighting in wars today and what happens when they do.
https://youtu.be/6s7IE6Y-heM

On International Conscientious Objectors’ Day, Al Jazeera’s explains what it means for people who object to fighting in wars today and what hap...

17/05/2026

Commemoration to Jean Van Lierde, historical figure of Belgian and international conscientious objection to military service, first EBCO President.
Commemoration for the 20th anniversary of his death and the 100th anniversary of his birth.
Visit to the park dedicated to him, his home and his grave at the cemetery of the Brussels municipality of Watermael-Boitsfort. ☮️
"TU NE TUERAS POINT - PAIX, JUSTICE ET LIBERTÉ"
"Thou shalt not kill - Peace, Justice and Liberty"

16/05/2026

Happy to meet for our EBCO General Assembly, bringing together conscientious objectors and activists ☮️ from Belgium, Italy, France, Germany, Switzerland, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Greece, Cyprus, Turkey and UK, at the Peace House in Brussels, kindly hosted by Agir pour la Paix 🙏