In April 2023, Gender and Law at Durham (GLAD) and the Centre for Criminal Law and Criminal Justice (CCLCJ) hosted the launch of Dr Demet Asli Caltekin's book, Conscientious Objection in Turkey: A Socio-legal Analysis of the Right to Refuse Military Service.
Conscientious Objection in Turkey: A Socio-legal Analysis of the Right to Refuse Military Service (Edinburgh University Press, 2022) provides a socio-legal analysis of the right to refuse military service and explores the relationship between cultural norms, international law, and domestic law. It discovers the relationship between socio-cultural norms and the non-recognition of the right to conscientious objection in Turkey, a country that requires mandatory military conscription with no alternative service. The book draws on semi-structured interviews with conscientious objectors to provide an empirical and socio-legal analysis of the right to conscientious objection. It highlights the importance of understanding the legal framework to affect social change and argues that challenging militarization requires a deep understanding of the relationship between law and cultural norms.
Watch the recording of the book launch
Assistant Professor in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice
Dr Demet Asli Caltekin is an Assistant Professor in Criminal Law and Criminal Justice at Durham Law School. Demet’s research interests include Critical Military Studies with a focus on anti-militarism, Socio-legal Studies, and Gender and Criminal Law. She employs a multi-disciplinary approach, combining feminist and socio-legal methodologies to analyze the relationship between law and society.
Head of Geography at Newcastle University
Professor Rachel Woodward is a renowned scholar in the field of military geography. With a focus on militarism and space/place, military land use, post-military landscapes, and military environmentalism. Professor Woodward’s research encompasses a broad range of interdisciplinary themes, including militarism and gender and identity in the military. She is also the co-editor of the Journal of War and Culture Studies.
Professor at the University of Greenwich, School of Law and Criminology
Professor Özgür Heval Çɪnar is a professor at the University of Greenwich, School of Law and Criminology. He is also a deputy head of School of Law and Criminology. He completed his PhD at the School of Law, University of Essex, on the subject of conscientious objection to military service and the case of Turkey. Previously, he was a post-doc fellow at the University of Oxford between 2012-2016. Moreover, he is a lawyer and works as a legal expert for the Council of Europe.
Senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict
Dr Cheyney Ryan is a senior research fellow at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law, and Armed Conflict, where he focuses on nonviolence, pacifism, and the critique of just war theory. He is also a founder and co-chair of the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights which conducts human rights workshops for students in Oxford, New York, Geneva, and other locations. He was involved in the civil rights movement starting in 1963, he worked in an antipoverty program in southeastern Kentucky.
Human rights lawyer from Turkey
Hülya Üçpinar is a human rights lawyer from Turkey and has a long track record of campaigning for the right to conscientious objection in Turkey. She is a member of the Conscientious Objection Association in Turkey, and one of the co-founders of the Nonviolent Education and Research Centre, based in Istanbul. She has been a member of the WRI Council and WRI Executive Committee since 2014.
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