When he was 9 or 10 years old, he was walking on the street with his mother in Istanbul when a shot rang out, he told the tribunal.
He looked in the direction of the sound, and saw a woman with a gunshot wound to her head.
A man, presumably her husband, stood over her holding a gun.
Now in his early 30s, he still suffers flashbacks of the traumatic event and has tried everything he could to avoid handling a weapon.
All male citizens in Turkey have to serve six months of compulsory military service when they turn 20, although conscripts could opt to pay TL30,000, approximately $2500, to undergo only one month of military training.
There is no civilian alternative to military service, but there are limited exemptions for those who are physically or mentally unfit.
The man got several deferments by enrolling in university and post-graduate studies, and when that ended he started putting on weight in 2016 so he could be further deferred on medical grounds.
He was able to hit 120kg and was given a five-year exemption in 2017.
The tribunal said the man was a “sensitive individual” who, severely traumatised by a childhood experience, had deliberately put his health at risk by putting on excessive weight, showing the unusual depth of his emotional and psychological response.
When his exemption expired, police came to his family home looking for him last September.
Tribunal member Bruce Burson said the man had a deep-seated and visceral hatred of guns but this did not constitute a belief, which is protected under Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
“His objection is not based on any ‘belief’, let alone a religious belief,” Burson said in a decision dated January 17.
However, he said requiring the man to perform military service “under pressure of fines, imprisonment and other serious civil penalties” amounts to cruel treatment.
There was no alternative to military service in Turkey, so the man was likely to experience worsening trauma both during and after his basic training.
“In the unusual circumstances of this case, the tribunal is satisfied he faces a well-founded fear of being persecuted in Turkey,” Burson said, recognising the man as a protected person in New Zealand.
The ruling noted there was nothing unlawful about compulsory military service and the mere fact that the state operates a policy of conscription does not ground a valid claim to refugee status.
But a valid refugee claim may still be grounded in an objection to conscription.
“The danger to the appellant stems from a nationally applicable law ... enforced through agents of the state whose reach extends throughout the country,” Burson said.
“The same risk of cruel treatment would exist regardless of where he was living.”
