Some background information in English:

Since Cyprus is still in a frozen conflict, it is under a ceasefire, going to military service in mandatory for all men, both in the free areas of Republic of Cyprus, and in trnc, the occupied areas of Cyprus. In 1992, Republic of Cyprus has acquired a law about conscientious objection, so people can choose to do other jobs for their nation rather than going to military service. But no such law has been put into action in the north side of Cyprus. So every men, who is a trnc citizen must have to go to the military service if they don’t have enough money to do ‘paid military service.’ If they don’t want to go to the military and if they do not have enough money, they get arrested and put into jail.

There is an increasing numbers of conscientious objectors in the north side of Cyprus. There might have been lots of reasons why they do not want to go to the military service; but mostly, those people do not want to kill other Cypriots, who they have lived as brothers and sisters for all this time. But as you can guess, the trnc parliament has rejected the law about conscientious objection. But conscientious objection is a right. Now, another conscientious objector, Mustafa is rejecting to go to the mobilization, where you are called every year by the government and being reminded that you are still in a conflict and one day you will be fighting with Cypriots living in the other side of Cyprus. If a law about conscientious objection is not made, Mustafa will be sent into jail on 18th January.

There is a video about the movement about conscientious objectors in the north side of Cyprus. Your support and comments are much appreciated.



by CypriotPeacemaker

2 comments

  1. Let me tell you my experience with the so called “TRNC” military; all the officers and decision makers are from Turkey and they dislike Cyprus and the TCs, during the “oat ceremony” they never choose anyone with a TC accent.

  2. Even if there’s a law provision for Conscientious Objectors in the RoC, it’s no easy task to go through the process and get approved. But it’s worth every ounce of effort put into it.

    I’m glad this is a thing and more people are waking up and standing their ground. It takes guts to stand up and fight obligatory military service, like TCs in the North, with the danger of imprisonment looming.

    I’d love to watch the video, if Greek or English subs were available.

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