The criminalisation of conscientious objection to military service in Turkey and Azerbaijan: time for action

Abstract

This article considers the issue of persistent non-compliance with the ECtHR's judgements by two councils of Europe member states, Turkey and Azerbaijan, in light of emerging jurisprudence and positive obligations with respect to the right of conscientious objection to military service. This article further considers whether initiating infringement proceedings could resolve the execution problems that persisted with the court's judgements in Ulke v Turkey and Mushfig Mammadov v Azerbaijan, respectively.