Today, the Turkish Cypriot activist, conscientious objector and member of the Executive Board of the Party of the European Left, Murat Kanatli, was sentenced to 10 days in jail for refusing to participate in annual military mandatory exercises in the northern part of Cyprus.

Murat is a peace activist, advocate of a political solution to the island that the northern part is illegally occupied by Turkey since 1974. It’s his political commitment and freedom of conscience that guided his choice. The Constitutional Court has recognized it. But the decision of his imprisonment was taken by a military court.

The Party of the European Left expresses its solidarity with Murat Kanatli and reaffirms its condemnation of the Turkish occupation and its commitment to a political solution of the Cyprus problem.

Party of the European Left

25 February 2014