ANKARA: Ahmet Hamo, 53, recently received his call-up letter for military service in Turkiye after he voluntarily applied to the authorities becoming the first Syrian refugee with citizenship to be conscripted into the nation’s army. Hamo came to Turkiye as a refugee amid the Syrian civil war that started in 2011. He applied for military service after becoming a citizen.
Northern European nations are reestablishing conscription in the shadow of a belligerent Russia. But they are balancing the needs of the military with the sensibilities and values of modern society.