Social and legal dimensions discussion of conscientious refusal in Turkey

Even though the discussion of conscientious objection, the refusal of military service due to individual’s moral values or religious beliefs, is new in Turkey, the subject has become the focus of intense interest. The discussion of conscientious objection in Turkey has come the to the fore with the heated debates between the glorification of the dynamics of Turkish social structure towards military service and the critique of militarism and conscientious objection’s legal dimensions, as well. Since the reduction of discussions in this context in Turkey to the legal dimension is the ignorance of social reality constituting basis to the legal dimension, the subject is examined with reference to the social and historical outlook on this issue and the study is built on dimensions.