- Born 1978, he was imprisoned for refusing military service in Turkey as a conscientious objector.
- Tarhan had been sentenced to four years in a military prison for disobedience after refusing to wear a military uniform, a sentence that is
evidently the longest ever given for such an offense in Turkey.
- He was released in March 2006 after spending several months in prison.
- At the age of 17 he worked with KAOS GL (an independent political and cultural LGBT group) and Lambdaistanbul (a LBGT civil society initiative).
- He also became involved in and supported anti-military efforts. Tarhan credits his sexual and ethnic identity with causing him to question militarism.
- Tarhan first publicly objected to military service in October 2001. At a press conference in Ankara he said:
"I condemn every kind of violence and believe that joining or condoning violence will only result in new violence and everyone will be responsible for the consequences. I think that wars caused by power-mongering states are first and foremost a violation of the right to life. The violation of the right to life is a crime against humanity and no international convention or law can justify this crime, regardless of any rationale. I therefore declare that I won’t be an agent of such crime under any circumstances. I will not serve any military apparatus." - Tarhan could have avoided military service by stating that he is gay. However, the Turkish military perceives homosexuality as an "illness" and requires rectal examination and visual "evidence" to support such a claim. Mehmet did not want to be classified as "ill" and instead sought to be classified as a conscientious objector.