Conscientious Objection Watch is an independent monitoring and solidarity initiative that aims to challenge militarism and compulsory conscription in Turkey, while making the right to conscientious objection visible and accessible. For context, in Turkey, a 6 month military service is mandatory for all male Turkish citizens aged between 20 and 41, and the right to conscientious objection not only isn’t recognised but there’s also no alternative civilian services offered. According to Connection e.V., people who officially renounce to the army service endure harsh criminal prosecutions, or face heavy fines and imprisonment, which basically translates into their own “civil death”: a situation where the individual loses access to official employment opportunities and education, the right to vote, and passport/travel rights.
To change this, Conscientious Objection Watch carries out documentation, monitoring, reporting at national and international levels and provides legal support to COs. To achieve this, they raise public awareness to the right to conscientious objection and lobby at the level of regional and international human right bodies about the situation of conscientious objectors in Turkey. Ergo, this work is explicitly about standing up against the military-industrial-complex, but also about challenging the shrinking space for civil dissent, bringing human and civil rights to the fore and in a time when they are most challenged. This fight, too, is a stepping stone to building different, more humane visions of society: a more just, non-violent and abolitionist future where big picture politics are no longer based on fear and the ideal of “security & defence” but rather anchored on collective flourishing.
Specifically, COW organises online meetings that catalyse COs engagement in this fight. In these calls, they talk about the plans of the network, the needs of objectors, and the support mechanisms they have or must identify for COs. This work isn’t easy, and they have had to be chameleonic to surpass government pressure and crackdown. That is why this crew has worked hard to build strong ties with international communities, so that they can face the mounting domestic security challenges with international support. Even the Guardian made an interview with one of their team members in the context of CO’s in different generations.
The Guerrilla Redistribution
As a non-registered initiative working in a politically sensitive, legally vulnerable, and systematically excluded field, COW’s access to funding and infrastructure remains extremely limited. Repeat support from Guerrilla over the past years has allowed them to sustain and expand their core activities, efforts that are otherwise difficult to resource through conventional funding channels.
In 2025, our funding enabled them to expand their visibility, strengthen their organisational capacity, and deepen the social and political resonance of conscientious objection. It directly supported their May 15 events consisting of multiple solidarity actions and public calls for objectors. This directly amplified CO’s voices nationally and internationally. Our support also allowed them to build meaningful bridges with other social movements and explore more the intersections between conscientious objection and broader struggles for justice, including feminist, anti-authoritarian, and animal liberation activism. In 2026, they are prioritising legal assistance and emergency solidarity mechanisms for objectors at risk of imprisonment. This core protection is not only important to safeguard individuals’ human rights, but also to set precedents for more court cases to be won against repression and its enforcement.
Therefore, repeat support from Guerrilla is much beyond financial but a form of principled solidarity. It affirms their legitimacy, sustains their continuity, and strengthens their collective capacity to resist militarism, build alliances, and act from the margins with clarity and purpose.
