Judgment concerning Türkiye
In the case of Kanatlı v. Türkiye the Court held that there had been a violation of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
The applicant in this case complained that he had been convicted for refusing to perform his one day of military service as a reservist on grounds of conscientious objection.
The Court found that the relevant national legislation made no provision for conscientious objectors to perform an alternative form of service and pointed out that it had previously held that a system which provided for no alternative service or any effective and accessible procedure for the examination of a claim of conscientious objection could not be seen as having struck a fair balance between the general interest of society and that of conscientious objectors.