TIP IN TURKEY: POLICE GUIDEBOOK ON TIP

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ANKARA 004448

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD PREF TU TIP IN TURKEY
SUBJECT: TIP IN TURKEY: POLICE GUIDEBOOK ON TIP
INVESTIGATIONS PUBLISHED, DISTRIBUTED


1. (U) In an August 5 meeting at the Turkish Security
Directorate, Foreigners Department Assistant Director Murat
Oz provided para 2 text of the Turkish Security
Directorate's anti-TIP guidebook. Oz told Emboff that the
guidebook was published by the Security Directorate and
distributed to law enforcement officers, agencies, and
departments including the Departments of Order, Smuggling
and Organized Crimes, and Foreigners at the Turkish Security
Directorate.


2. (U) Text of the Turkish-language TIP Investigation
guidebook provided through unofficial local FSN translation.
BEGIN TEXT:

SECURITY DIRECTORATE GENERAL
FOREIGNERS BORDER ASYLUM DEPARTMENT HEAD
THE FIGHT AGAINST HUMAN TRAFFICKING - GUIDE BOOK

Human Trafficking should not be confused with human
smuggling. It is a modern version of slavery that
threatens individuals, societies, nations and states.
Human Trafficking is an international phenomenon,
reaching dangerous levels especially after the
disintegration of the Soviet Union.

Human trafficking in our country is seen from time to
time in cases of forced prostitution (mainly of women
between the ages of 18-25 and mostly from Eastern Bloc
countries). The important point here is to carefully
make the distinction between those who freely decide to
engage in prostitution for financial profit and those
who are forced into prostitution.

Traffickers recruit victims by exerting force, pressure
and creating fear, by cheating and through deceit.
There is a lasting relationship between the exploiters
(human traffickers) and the exploited that continues
after crossing the border. This modern cross-boundary
crime includes sexual or other types of exploitation
and servitude, violation of human dignity and loss of
freedom for the victims.

Paragraph "b" was included in Article 201 of the
Turkish Penal Code on August 9, 2002. The crime of
human trafficking was defined and punishments were set.
According to this provision:

Article 201/b - Those who provide, kidnap,
transport from one place to another, shelter
individuals to make them work by force or serve,
be subject to slavery or similar treatment, impose
threat, pressure, force or violence on them, shall
be sentenced to heavy imprisonment from five years
to ten years and fined not less than 1 billion TL.

If the acts were attempted with the purposes
mentioned in paragraph one, it will be regarded
that they were done without the consent of the
victim.

In cases that minors who have not completed the
age of 18 are provided, kidnapped, transported or
sheltered with the purposes mentioned in paragraph
one, even if none of the acts of the crime were
committed, the perpetrator shall be punished with
the punishments mentioned in paragraph one.

If the crimes mentioned above were committed in an
organized manner, the punishments shall be
increased by one fold.

Human trafficking is usually organized internationally
and results in grave consequences for victims'
security, prosperity, and human rights. Because income
obtained from human trafficking with the purpose of
sexual exploitation is high, continuous and low-risk,
it is a preferred method of organized criminal gangs.

Victims find themselves serving as "slaves" in the sex
industry, domestic servants at homes or workers in
factories under inhuman conditions for long periods.

Here the main goal of human traffickers is to make
money through long-term exploitation. With this
purpose, human traffickers use elements of force such
as incarceration, debt bondage, isolation, confiscating
identity and travel documents, intimidation, rape and
use of force, threats of violence against a victims'
family.

Other efficient methods utilized by traffickers include
pressure methods. Traffickers tell victims they are
free to go to the police, because they falsely assert
police were purchased through bribes. Traffickers may
also tell victims that they will be deported
immediately, without interrogation, if they go to
police.

One of the reasons that victims' hesitate to apply to
the police is that most of them come from countries
where police are regarded negatively, a force of
pressure rather than an assisting service.

Turkish police personnel conducting investigations
should be very careful to provide full information
about all kinds of assistance, support and services
that would be helpful for the victims to obtain relief
from their current situation.

When victims become witnesses, the duty of the
personnel that conduct the investigation is to be
sensitive towards the victimized witness and respect
her rights. Their duty is also to prepare the most
appropriate conditions for her to present the evidence
she has, testify and overcome the trauma that is
entailed inevitably to the investigation and trial
process.

Explaining the situation thoroughly and building
confidence are key factors in communicating with the
victims. There are three main issues that concern
victims:

- Personal Security
- Privacy Issues: Protection from the media
- Separation from the human traffickers who
exploited them

The following issues should be handled with priority in
order to calm victims and facilitate the collection of
evidence that will assist in the investigation:

- Personnel who take testimony should be respectful,
helpful and should refrain from judging the person. In c
of sexual exploitation, the terms used for defining the
victim, human trafficker, customers and prostitution shou
be selected carefully so that the victim is not intimidat
or embarrassed.

- Personnel conducting the investigation should act in a
professional manner with the victim and should refrain fr
physical contact. The personnel conducting the
investigation should refrain from behavior that would
suggest disrespect to the victim.

- Use of proper and respectful language is very
important. The officers should refrain from using obscen
words or sexual implications.

- In all cases the officer taking victim's testimony
should be of the same gender with the victim.

- The officers taking the testimony of the victim should
be trained about the crime of human trafficking.

- The meeting with the victim should be held in a quiet
location. Psychological support should be available. Thi
situation will decrease a victim's hesitation and develop
confidence in law enforcement officers.

- Human trafficking for the purpose of sexual
exploitation is a crime that emerges as a way of life. I
most cases, most evidence is hidden in details. So the
victim should give detailed information about incidents,
matter how lengthy.

- Investigators should stress the importance of providin
any details about places where incidents happened, routs,
clothes, people, documents, decoration and furniture in t
room where the victims were locked or raped.

- It is also very important that the victims should be
warned clearly that they should tell the truth.

- It is of vital importance that the victims should know
that attempts to lie to or intentionally deceive
investigators will be uncovered during the course of the
investigation and that this would defame the victim as a
witness and that it would endanger the court case.
- In this regard, the victim should be encouraged to tal
about the impact of the crime on her quality of life;
whether she feels ready to establish a free life as a nor
citizen; whether she can go back home without fear; wheth
she has lost her confidence and respect.

Upon a victim's complaint or upon information from
another resource, when it becomes necessary to launch a
raid in a building to capture human trafficking
perpetrators or rescue victims, the following elements
should be used as an ideal practice:

- Translators speaking the language of perpetrators and
victims;

- Officials documenting with video and photos;

- Forensic medicine officials;

- Special technical support teams.

Victims of human trafficking might be suspected of
crimes such as possession of fake visas or travel
documents or voluntary prostitution. However, it
should not be forgotten that they are the most
important witnesses against human traffickers.

To encourage confidence and trust, victims should
not be held with criminals in the security
precinct. Without human traffickers around,
victims will be more inclined to share
information.

Assigned security personnel should carefully
record every possible detail about the place of
incident and apprehension of suspects, including
statements during apprehension, situation of the
rooms in the place where prostitution is being
done, and clothes worn by victims. Details should
be recorded in such a manner that suspects later
cannot claim they were unaware of prostitution.

Suspects' offices, brothels or meeting buildings
and houses should be searched in accordance with
legislation. Records about these places are very
important, especially if the victims claim they
were subject to bad treatment and/or sexual rape.

If the victim engaged in prostitution, it will be
a remote possibility to find a forensic medicine
sample that would become evidence for a rape case.
For this reason, a video film that displays the
layout and setting of the incident venue will be
vital evidence enhancing the testimony of the
victim.

The following checklist should be used to acquire
evidence in human trafficking criminal investigations;
responses should be attached to the record:

- Copy of an ad, appointment book, letter to
language schools, applications to consulates
for visa;

- No matter how small the amount is, cash
money, credit card, check book or a document
about a financial transaction;

- Any documents showing remittances of victims
to human traffickers in the form of a daily
payment book, hand written payment list, or
money transfer receipts;

- Identity cards and travel documents, tickets,
receipts, boarding passes, luggage tags and all
related documents;

- Letter of guarantee, dance contract, language
school records, contracts such as finding
friends or marriage agency employment; any
contract and all kinds of documents related
with issuance of passports and visas;
- Any documents about daily administration of
prostitution such as announcement material,
daily sketch papers, price lists, texts to be
read;

- Pornographic material to be used in
prostitution;

- All kinds of rental agreement documents and
contracts for buildings and other associated
facilities associated;

- Computers, cellular phones, fax machines,
personal data banks an all kinds of
communication and information technology
equipment;

- Expensive motor vehicles, jewelry, furniture
or technical equipment and other valuable
material.

In Summary:

The crime of human trafficking should be referred to as
a violation of human rights. People and networks
involved in trafficking should be identified and
treated in accordance with article 201/b of the TPC.

The victims should not be treated as criminals but
victims of a crime; victims should not be kept in
detention but in an appropriate, clean and secure
medium.

People, who come to our country just to make money
through prostitution and stay in our country for this
purpose, should be subject to legal and administrative
procedures.

Those who are victims and who reveal the criminals
shall be given residential permits for one month at the
first instance.

Any information and/or intelligence should be evaluated
and reported with case notes. After gathering
information from other provinces, as required,
necessary steps should be taken in coordination with
the related security and Jandarma commanders. The
Ministry of Interior must be informed about steps
taken.

After taking testimonies of the suspects, victims, and
other members of the organization, their external links
should be discovered in detail and legal procedures
should be initiated against these people, then our
ministry should be informed.

Victims should be sent to the closest health
institution to undergo full medical evaluations and
physicals. Considering victims of foreign
nationalities are in a country away from their language
and culture, translators should be provided.

When victims are rescued, forensic medicine
examinations should be conducted and, in the absence of
a Ministry of Interior forensic medicine physician, a
trusted and experienced doctor should do the
examinations. Physical and psychological exams of the
victims should be administered.

If the victims have travel documents and/or identity
documents, photocopies of these documents should be
taken and sent to our ministry as attachments.

Information about transit, destination and departure
countries on the travel documents should be compared
with the testimonies of the victim and if they
contradict, the victim's testimony should be taken
again.
Under the light of evidence collected, those who are
responsible should be sent to the judiciary
immediately. END TEXT.
DEUTSCH