TIP IN TURKEY: TURKISH MEDIA ATTENTION, AUGUST 1-

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 13 ANKARA 004580

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: TURKISH MEDIA ATTENTION, AUGUST 1-
15, 2004


1. (U) In response to G/TIP inquiries about anti-TIP public
information campaigns, post provides as examples the
following TIP press reports. Text of articles originally
published in Turkish is provided through unofficial local
FSN translation.


2. (U) Published August 15, 2004 by the International Herald
Tribune and New York Times:

TITLE: Southeastern European Nations Unite to Battle
Sex Trafficking; By DAVID BINDER

BEGIN TEXT: WASHINGTON, Aug. 14 - Investigators from
Turkey and Romania teamed up recently to interview
victims of a sex-trafficking ring, resulting in the
arrest of five offenders. It was part of a stepped-up
cooperative effort against organized crime in Southern
Europe.
A prosecutor and a police officer traveled from
Bucharest to Spain to help shut down a Romanian
operation that had trafficked 40 women.

Sex trafficking victims from Moldova testified in a
Serbian court, resulting in prison terms for 14
traffickers.

Those and similar cases involving human trafficking
where cross-border cooperation has been a rarity are
the work of the Regional Center for Combating
Transborder Crime of the Southeast European Cooperative
Initiative in Bucharest.

In addition to operations aimed at interdicting
narcotics and contraband smuggling, the Cooperative
Initiative's Center, which opened in 2001 with
assistance from the United States, has conducted three
regional sweeps against traffic in human beings, mainly
of young women for sexual exploitation.

Southeastern Europe is a region where the International
Organization for Migration estimates that 200,000 women
are trafficked annually, including women from the
region and women brought there for the sex trade. The
center had help from the F.B.I. in training officials
to interview the victims.

Officials here and in the region say that the latest
sweep, by more than 1,000 police officers in June, has
raised cooperation against organized crime among 13
countries to new levels. They are Albania, Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary,
Macedonia, Moldova, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro,
Slovenia, Turkey and Ukraine.

"For the first time we have investigators from several
countries working together, we have prosecutors
involved, and victims crossing borders to provide
testimony without resort to legal assistance treaties,"
said John F. Markey, a director of law enforcement
assistance programs for the State Department and the
principal American liaison for the regional center,
known as the SECI Center.

It "is unique in the world in terms of regional
cooperation against organized crime," he said, noting
that work was under way to replicate it for an area
from Southeastern Europe to Central Asia by another
United States-sponsored group comprising Georgia,
Ukraine, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan and Moldova.
The June sweep brought increases in most categories
used to measure success relative to the network's
previous operations: 594 victims identified; 86 victims
assisted; 133 victims repatriated; 545 traffickers
identified and 328 traffickers charged.

In addition, 120 requests for information on people
suspected of crimes were registered in the Bucharest
center from outlying law enforcement authorities from
across the region. In an analysis, Maj. Gen. Alexandru
Ionas, deputy director at the center, wrote, "This
trend is a clear sign that the mechanism of the task
force is fully at work and that countries rely more and
more on its information exchange facilities."

He called for "international tracing of criminal assets
and money laundering schemes." Some actions with regard
to assets are already occurring. In conjunction with
the sweep, Albanian state police officials in July
announced that they had seized assets valued at $4.3
million. END TEXT.


3. (U) Published August 13, 2004 by the Prague Post:

TITLE: U.S. seeks solution to trafficking
BEGIN TEXT: Expert lauds efforts, decries drift toward
sex-trade legalization; By Dinah A. Spritzer; Staff
Writer, The Prague Post; (August 12, 2004)

Ambassador John Miller, director of the U.S. State
Department's Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking
in Persons, paid a visit to the Czech Republic at the
beginning of the month and met with trafficking
experts. Miller's office helps countries to curtail
forced labor and sexual slavery. His position was
created last year as part of an expansion of the U.S.
Trafficking Victim Protection Act. Passed in 2000, the
act provided stiffer penalties against human
traffickers and funding for assistance to victims of
modern-day slavery. On Aug. 6 Miller discussed with The
Prague Post the Czech fight against sexual slavery and
U.S. concern over the Czech government's aim to
legalize prostitution.

The Prague Post: The Czech Republic has been dubbed by
some as the brothel of Europe because of its booming
sex trade. Does that bother you?

John Miller: First of all, I am not in a position at
all to look at the Czech Republic that way. I have seen
a lot of other European countries that could make a
pretty good claim to that title.

TPP: Nonetheless, the number of sex clubs here has
dramatically grown in the last few years. Aren't you
concerned that they fuel trafficking?

JM: There is no question that when you have a brothel,
you have a demand for victims. Research indicates that
enormous percentages of the women involved are not
doing this of their free choice. The most recent survey
-- it's an American study by eight doctors -- looks at
854 women engaged in prostitution in nine countries,
ranging from Germany to Taiwan. That survey shows that
the overwhelming majority report being continuously
harassed, assaulted and raped. Eighty-nine percent want
to escape [from prostitution].

TPP: You called it the oldest form of abuse, but don't
women have the right to be prostitutes?

JM: If most women are not getting into it by their free
choice, we have to acknowledge this fact. And if it is
associated with rape and assault and harassment, we
have to acknowledge that fact as well. For the most
part it is a human rights violation.

TPP: So is this what you're telling mayors in this
country: "Hey, I know you want to legalize
prostitution: Don't do it"?

JM: I haven't talked to any mayors. I wish I had. But
we feel making the state the chief pimp is not going to
help matters. We talked to NGOs [nongovernmental
organizations] and they privately said this is not
going to help the women involved. This is going to
stigmatize them as a class. It is going to create a
demand for more victims. It is going to invite
organized crime to extend their tentacles.

TPP: Jitka Gjuricova, the Interior Ministry expert on
prostitution, says the ministry "draws inspiration"
from countries where regulation of licensed
prostitution has proven to be an effective means in
fighting trafficking.

JM: She draws inspiration, let's be blunt about it,
from the Netherlands. If you look at the last decade in
the Netherlands, the number of [trafficking] victims
has quadrupled. They created a magnet for victims from
all over the world, particularly from Eastern Europe.
There is absolutely no evidence the Netherlands, this
inspiration for those who seek legalization, has
reduced trafficking in victims. It appears to be the
opposite.

TPP: How do you assess Czech efforts to curtail sexual
slavery?

JM: You now have a national action plan on trafficking.
You have an organized-crime unit with officers focusing
specifically on trafficking and this is something many
countries don't have. You are just in the process of
finishing a pilot project for victims, very advanced,
and the government officials I have talked to want to
expand it.

TPP: And the shortcomings?

JM: The Czech Republic is a Tier 1 [best-practices
country according to the U.S. Global Report on
Trafficking], [but] every government can improve. We
did notice there were 15 or 20 arrests last year of
traffickers, five convictions and then [only] one
person went to jail and the rest got suspended
sentences. There was an educational campaign a couple
of years ago in the schools but it ended and I think
there is something to be done there. And it has to be
directed not just at potential victims but at society
as a whole. There is a need to develop an attitude that
recognizes that such women are not criminals; they are
not a lower class; they are victims.

TPP: Does the U.S. fight against trafficking have any
real influence on what governments do?

JM: A year ago, in our Trafficking in Persons Reoprt,
we listed a host of countries in Tier 3, those not
making significant efforts to stop trafficking.
Included were some friends of ours, Greece and Turkey.
In the three months after the report came out, while
there was of course some criticism in these countries
of our report, nonetheless there were people of
goodwill who recognized this was a valuable tool. And
so in these countries you found increased efforts at
education, public service announcements directed at
potential victims. You found law-enforcement training
courses sensitizing police to look for victims, not
just treating them as illegal immigrants. You found
more arrests and prosecutions; you found more funding
for NGOs helping victims. The point is to see progress.

TPP: Many people object to the U.S. government acting
as a moral bully. What gives you the right to boss
other countries around?

JM: There is not a government in the world that
officially sanctions slavery. This is a universal
value. I do not apologize for the fact that maybe the
U.S. feels this value more acutely because of our
history with slavery. I do not apologize for the fact
that we take a leadership role on this. It is also not
just a case of the U.S. looking at the world. One of
the first things I did when I started this position was
to commission a report on the U.S.

TPP: What is the greatest weakness in the U.S. effort
to combat trafficking at home?

JM: Prosecutions. We have tripled them in the last two
years, but there is more to be done. We know there are
thousands [of victims] in the U.S. but the prosecutions
are in the hundreds. END TEXT.


4. (U) Published August 10, 2004 by Turkey's Hurriyet News,
page 6:

BEGIN TEXT: TRABZON - Two Russian women, together with
their boy friends, went to a beach owned by the Trabzon
Security Directorate. The two women started sunbathing
topless and behaved improperly with their boy friends.
When families complained, the two were taken out of the
site. The Security then closed the beach to outsiders.
END TEXT.

5. (U) Published August 8, 2004 by the India Tribune:

TITLE: INHUMAN CARGO

BEGIN TEXT: The plight of "aliens" languishing in jails
in Greece, Turkey, Iran and Pakistan was brought to
light after seven workers of Kuwait Gulf Links, a
transport company, were taken hostage in Iraq. Those
taken hostages had gone "legally" but the focus shifted
to the "aliens" who were considered "vulnerable" to
exploitation by companies engaged in Illegal
international trafficking.

Only last week, the first batch of 23 of the 106 Indian
youth, who had been languishing in the Teheran Gurdwara
from four weeks to three months, could return home
safely after attempts to sneak into Greece in the
Olympic year proved abortive. They were not only left
destitute but had become mental wrecks. Despite the
infamous Malta boat tragedy of December 25,1996, there
has been no let-up in the activities of mafia engaged
in human smuggling. It is not only the Doaba region of
Punjab that is targeted by the agents but also other
parts of the North, including Haryana.

In the Malta boat tragedy, 170 youth from Doaba, 88
Pakistanis and 149 Sri Lankans had drowned in the Malta-
Sicily channel after "donkey," the boat they were
travelling in, collided with a ship during a mid-sea
transfer. The police may have registered more cases
this year than last year against travel agents for
cheating, but it has not checked the "outflow of both
skilled and unskilled youth to western nations" by
illicit methods. Rather, the number of victims is
rising at an alarming rate.

Smuggling humans is a multi-billion dollar business. It
has been thriving because of the lack of economic
opportunities at home. "What do we do here? There are
no jobs and agriculture is not remunerative. We are
forced to take this risk," says Karnail Chand, a 29-
year-old from Kapurthala, who has been one of the 23
who returned from Teheran last week.

"It is a complex network which operates not only at the
village level in Punjab but also internationally. The
beneficiaries are too many. Right from the agents who
scout for youth lured by the greener pastures of the
West to immigration and police officials manning
international borders across the globe, all are part of
the network," says a senior Punjab police official,
maintaining that each victim has the "same horrid tale
of misery, hardship and suffering to tell."

A powerful nexus between collaborators or suppliers of
illegal immigrants from the region and those abroad
have spread their tentacles all round the globe and
turned the racket of into a thriving business.
Increasingly clever and clandestine methods employed by
the criminals, incredibly high profits involved and the
non-interference of other countries, which often
welcome the aliens as "refugees," are supporting
factors that contribute to this flourishing trade.
Investigations reveal that every year those indulging
in human trafficking ensnare no less than 25,000 able-
bodied youth from the region. Each one of them coughs
up anything between Rs 2.5 lakh and Rs. 20 lakh on
being promised an "entry" into Europe or North America.

"Last year, almost 90 per cent of the people from
Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq managed to sneak into Greece
and Italy. But this year, the success rate has been
only 9 to 10 per cent. In Greece, the authorities are
very strict because of the Olympics. They deport as
many as 1,000 "illegal immigrants" everyday," says
Balbir Chand, also a victim.

Harpal Singh, a youth from Doaba, says he had struck a
Rs1.75-lakh deal with a travel agent of Nakodar for
taking him to Greece. "It all started well. The agent
got us a visa for Jordan and put us up in a hotel for
seven days. Food was not provided but the agent used to
give us a few chappatis and some vegetable curry for
lunch and dinner each day.

"Then started the second and most humiliating phase.
Those who were not very ambitious settled down in
Jordan or Lebanon where they have to churn out
something between Rs 45,000 and 50,000 for a card to
work there against a salary of US $ 250 to 300 a month.
To get into Istanbul in Turkey, agents in Jordan charge
you anything between US $ 450 and 500. Tourist buses
take 15 to 16 hours to reach Istanbul."

"Sometimes, these buses are checked and "aliens" are
pushed and dropped on the Iran border. There are
several check posts and barriers. The aliens manage to
either cross into Iran or look for assistance to sneak
into Turkey again.

Since people in the border villages are poor, they also
lend a helping hand. Some Kurds even facilitate their
release from the border police, charging between US $
250 and 400 and helping them reach the gurdwara in
Teheran. Others are pushed into Pakistan," reveals
another youth, who had managed to reach the gurdwara on
paying $ 250 dollars to a Kurd.

Until last month, the agents used to make the kabootars
(illegal immigrants) enter into Iraq from where they
would join groups of "donkeys" (illegal immigrants are
referred as donkeys in West Asia). But now this channel
has been closed. "We were in Baghdad for a few days
before we left for our next destination as donkeys,"
discloses another victim, alleging that agents have tie-
ups with the police and other authorities.

Donkey, explains a victim, is the name given to a group
of aliens who are moved, mostly at night, either in
specially crafted light and medium transport vehicles
or made to walk through inhospitable terrains criss-
crossing international borders. These vehicles are
otherwise used for ferrying sheep and cattle. "If you
are a `donkey' then you should be prepared to wade
through snow, slush, mud and difficult terrain.
Sometimes, we had to walk for 24 hours at a stretch,
without food and water. Our ordeal continued for almost
three months till we, a group of eight people, managed
to reach the Iran border and a Kurd helped us to reach
the Teheran gurdwara," reveals a youth from Punjab.

"We managed to reach Greece from we were deported. In
all, we were eight Indians, 55 Pakistanis and 10
Bangladeshis. In Istanbul, Greece, Lebanon and even in
Jordan, the agents have set up open shops. For example,
the rates for reaching Greece from Lebanon or Turkey
vary. A truck-trailer at US$2,600 works out as the
cheapest mode of transport, while the speedboat or ship
at US $3,000 to 3,200 comes under the costly category.

"Money is taken only after one has reached the
destination," says Balbir Chand, who was deported from
Greece. "I was to pay US$450 on reaching Istanbul.
Since I was caught on the way, I did not pay anything."
In Turkey and Greece, the immigration officials are
strict. They take fingerprints and collect as much data
as possible to ensure that the alien does not attempt
to sneak into their country again.

"In one case, five aliens were fired upon after they
did not stop at a check barrier. A driver and an Indian
boy were killed in the firing, while the other three
occupants, all Pakistanis, were taken in custody. The
body of this boy is yet to reach his village in Doaba,"
reveals Daljit Chand, also a victim.

Interestingly, not many of the victims or their parents
show any interest in filing criminal cases against the
agents because they apprehend a backlash or closing of
channel in future." When things improve and authorities
become lax, I may try again," says one of the victims,
a 23-year-old from Kapurthala. "I have nothing to do
here. No one is going to give me a job because I am a
school dropout. Even if I get a menial job in Europe, I
can support my family and parents back home. Doing the
same job in India, I cannot even support myself. END
TEXT.


6. (U) Published August 6, 2004 by the International
Organization on Migration (Press Notes):

BEGIN TEXT: GEORGIA - "You Are Not For Sale"
Information Campaign Receives New Funding - The IOM
office in Tbilisi has launched the third stage of its
ongoing information campaign, aimed at raising
awareness on the dangers of human trafficking and
irregular migration from and through Georgia.

This two-year US$278,000 Dutch funded part of the
programme will allow IOM to expand its information
campaign in Georgian, English and Russian to include
awareness material on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted
Diseases awareness to be distributed to potential
migrants and victims of trafficking.

The IOM information campaign "You Are not for Sale ",
launched in December 2001 with funding from the Dutch
Government, is helping to raise awareness about the
realities of travelling abroad for work and the dangers
associated with irregular migration.

Telephone hotlines, television and radio ads, campaign
posters in the underground, railway stations, airports
and other public places, and information meetings
throughout Georgia are providing up to date and
objective information on migration and alerting
potential migrants to the dangers of irregular
migration and trafficking.

IOM information centres in three Georgian cities
(Tbilisi, Kutaisi and Gurjaani) provide face-to-face
assistance to potential migrants, and encourage them to
verify job offers or information received before taking
the risk of moving abroad or paying money to mediators
who promise employment abroad. A virtual centre where
people submit questions via the Internet to IOM
counsellors will also be set up.

The Turkish Embassy in Tbilisi is distributing 3,000
IOM brochures to visa applicants. The brochures are
also being distributed at 11 border crossings, at the
passport agency and by NGOs.

Since July 2002, the IOM hotline has received some
7,000 calls. The majority of the callers, females aged
between 20 and 40, are interested in finding seasonal
jobs abroad to support their families. The second most
frequently asked question is visa procedures. Other
questions include: legal migration opportunities,
opportunities to study abroad, asylum, and reliability
of employment offers.

The main destination countries for Georgian migrants
are Turkey, Greece, Russia, the United Arab Emirates,
the United States and Western Europe. Migrant women
work as housekeepers and nannies; men work in
agriculture and construction. In almost all cases the
work is illegal. Many irregular migrants eventually
return home, but are forced to go abroad again in
search of work. END TEXT.


7. (U) Published August 5, 2004 by Radio Free Europe:

TITLE: World: U.S. Diplomat Leads Charge Against Human
Trafficking; By Don Hill

BEGIN TEXT: The U.S. diplomat in charge of leading an
American worldwide campaign against what is called
"trafficking in people" says that no nation in the
world -- including the United States itself -- is doing
enough to combat the practice. Ambassador John Miller,
senior State Department adviser on people trafficking,
says the world must take a more serious stance on a
crime that is enslaving more than 800,000 people a year
-- mostly women and children. Miller is visiting the
Czech Republic this week in connection with a move
there to legalize prostitution.

Prague, 5 August 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Miller heads the U.S.
State Department's office to combat "trafficking in
persons," but the title, he says, is too mild for the
crime it describes.

"What we're talking about," he said, "is human
slavery."

A former congressman from the state of Washington, the
ambassador speaks on his chosen topic in language
atypical for politicians and diplomats. He told a press
briefing today at RFE/RL's Prague headquarters that
countries that treat people trafficking lightly are
allowing abductions, beatings, and rapes by the
thousands.

He said that he will urge the Czech government to move
cautiously as it considers proposed new legislation to
legalize and regulate prostitution.

"In our view, while it is important to treat the
victims [prostitutes] humanely, and while a good case
can be made, when you are talking about prostitution,
for de-criminalizing when it comes to the women
involved, the idea of legalizing the activities of the
customers, the pimps, the brothel owners, regulating --
making the state the chief pimp -- our experience is
that will just be throwing oil on the fire," Miller
said.

Today marks the second day of Miller's three-day visit
to the Czech Republic. The ambassador said that early
in its transition from communism to a market economy,
the Czech Republic was what he calls a "source country"
for slaves -- women and children forced into
prostitution, and men into factory and farm labor in
other countries. But he said that has changed.
"We are not happy with what is going on in Russia.
They took some steps, they passed a new law with some
criminal provisions. They cooperated a little more
with NGOs. But overall the effort was weak and we
dropped Russia from Tier 2 to Tier on the watch list."
-- Ambassador John Miller

"As the Czech economy has grown, the nature of the
problem has changed," Miller said. "Today if we look at
trafficking in persons, or slavery, in the Czech
Republic, we are talking about the Czech Republic as a
destination country. People coming from Eurasia,
Eastern Europe to the Czech Republic, engaging, being
forced, into the various types of slavery. Although,
talking with the NGOs, it is clear that the leading
form of slavery in the Czech Republic is sex slavery."

Miller said he will advise the Czech leadership that,
in considering the legislation, they will be choosing
what kind of tourism they want their country to be
known for. He asked if Prague really wants to be famous
for, in his phrase, "sex tourism."

The United States has announced a fund of $120 million
for its antislavery program. And one of Miller's tasks
is to travel the world applying grants, advice,
pressure, and -- possibly -- threats of sanctions to
get other countries to take the issue seriously also.

Already, he said, the campaign has scored successes. He
said that Bosnia-Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece,
Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Uzbekistan -- among others --
have taken actions that have moved them from his
office's list of countries who ignore the problem to
its list of countries that have taken significant steps
against it.

He said that Russia has moved in the opposite direction
and his office has re-listed it. He said his office now
considers Russia as belonging to the tier -- or level -
- of countries doing little or nothing to combat human
slavery.

"This [human trafficking] is a serious problem in
Russia. Russia is not only a destination country.
Russia is a source country, too, and it's a transit
country," Miller said. "We are not happy with what is
going on in Russia. They took some steps, they passed a
new law with some criminal provisions. They cooperated
a little more with NGOs. But overall the effort was
weak and we dropped Russia from Tier 2 to Tier on the
watch list."
Miller said he wants to persuade countries to adopt
stringent laws against abducting, smuggling, and
enslaving people. He said he hopes for comprehensive
antitrafficking programs including prohibiting,
punishing, and preventing this crime. He also wants, he
said, education to warn people of the dangers involved.
And to make evident to governments that enslaving and
trafficking human beings is a vile crime of major
proportions. END TEXT.

8. (U) Published August 4, 2004 by the UN office for the
Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs

TITLE: KYRGYZSTAN: New passport to help combat human
trafficking

BEGIN TEXT: ANKARA, 4 Aug 2004 (IRIN) - A new national
passport has been introduced in Kyrgyzstan in a move to
fight human trafficking and organised crime. The new
travel document offers greater protection against
forgery and is compatible with international standards,
according to a migration official.

"The new passport has sufficient levels of protection
[against forgery]. It is not filled in by hand, as was
the case before. It also has a digital photo, making it
impossible to stick in someone else's photo," Bermet
Moldobaeva, a programme coordinator for the
International Organization for Migration (IOM) in
Kyrgyzstan, told IRIN from the Kyrgyz capital, Bishkek.

The current national passport is filled in by hand,
which prompts some border officials to scrutinise the
document, especially if the handwriting is not clear.
"It is a real hassle for me to travel with my passport
because whenever I arrive in Moscow airport the border
officials spend a certain amount of time checking my
document, which was filled in with bad handwriting,"
Asylbek, a Kyrgyz national working in the Turkish
capital, Ankara, told IRIN.

Their comments followed a recent presentation of the
new travel document in Bishkek. During the presentation
Kyrgyz President Askar Akaev said: "The creation of a
new national identity document is a major step in
strengthening state security, which testifies to the
active participation of the Kyrgyz Republic in
international efforts to build peace and combat
international terrorism, trafficking in human beings
and other organised crime."

The old Kyrgyz passport is not in compliance with
international standards, a fact the authorities feel
could contribute to human trafficking and terrorist
activities, and threaten national security. There have
been some unconfirmed reports that human traffickers
fly their Uzbek and Tajik victims via the southern
Kyrgyz city of Osh to the United Arab Emirates, Turkey
and other countries using forged Kyrgyz passports,
something deemed impossible with the use of new travel
documents, experts say.

"It will be impossible to forge the new passport
because the latest technology was used, [including]
several layers of seal, a special dye, personal data
imprinted on laminated covering, etc," Moldobaeva said.

Produced by the Moldovan company Registru, the new
passports are designed according to standards laid down
by the International Civil Aviation Organisation
(ICAO). Each will contain an identity number printed on
the biographical data page and repeated on all pages by
laser; a machine-readable code; a digital photographic
image of the holder; and special paper with watermarks,
which contain fluorescent fibres only visible by
ultraviolet light.
Meanwhile, the national passport issuing system has
changed. Under the new regulations, there is now a
special centre for issuing the documents. Units that
formerly issued passports cannot do so anymore. They
can only gather passport applications from the
population and send them to the new centre. There this
information will be checked and then put into the
database storing all the necessary information.

Moreover, in an effort to ensure better border control,
border-crossing points are set to be connected with
this database. "If people crossing the border present
this new passport it will be checked with the data
stored in the database. Thus, the receiver of that
passport and the person who presents the document at
the point will be checked. So, even if someone has
somehow forged the new passport he will be detected at
the border because there will be a photo of the initial
holder of the passport in the database," Moldobaeva
explained.

According to the Kyrgyz government agency for
information technology, citizens can apply for the new
travel document from 12 August. The IOM has provided a
US $1.6 million grant funded by the US State
Department's Bureau for International Narcotics and Law
Enforcement Affairs (INL) to help develop the new
passport infrastructure in the country. END TEXT.



9. (U) Published August 3, 2004 by Turkey's Hurriyet News:

TITLE: "Police Saved the Sex Slaves"

BEGIN TEXT: Moldavian Daniela Yonichi was detained on
charges of selling young girls to men. Yonichi
allegedly confiscated passports of young girls that she
brought from abroad with promises of employment, then
forced them into prostitution.

Two young Russian women were saved during the
operation. They had been marketed to men in a hotel
room that they were locked for months. One of the
women is four months pregnant.

The two women embraced the police and cried. After
taking their testimony the two will be sent back to
their country.

Police are after Mikhail, a Greek who reportedly is the
head of an international gang involved in women
trafficking. END TEXT.


10. (U) Published August 3, 2004 by Turkey's Anatolian News
Agency:

TITLE: POLICE CAPTURE 48 ILLEGAL MIGRANTS IN
GAZIOSMANPASA

BEGIN TEXT: ISTANBUL (A.A) - 02.08.2004 - Police
captured 48 people of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi
origin in the Gaziosmanpasa district of Istanbul on
Monday on charges of entering Turkey illegally.

Acting on a tip-off, police raided a house in
Gaziosmanpasa, capturing 48 migrants and a Pakistani
citizen who had helped those people enter Turkey
illegally.

Police said the Pakistani citizen was sent to prison
while the 48 migrants would be deported. END TEXT.


11. (U) Published August 2, 2004 by Turkey's Milliyet News:

TITLE: The Prime Ministry Human Rights Presidency (HRP)
pulled a Turkish prostitute who applied for help from a
brothel and placed her in a shelter. The Presidency
will find her a job and eventually will unite her with
her kids.

BEGIN TEXT: S.C. (42) married her husband when she was

15. She fled and eventually got divorced. She later
had to work as a prostitute to survive.

S.C. sent a letter in January to the Prime Ministry HRP
and requested help. She noted that after her divorce,
her kids were taken away from her and she fell into the
trap of prostitution and meanwhile she was forced to
use drugs.

In her letter she wrote, "I want my kids. I would like
to live freely in a civilized and clean society. I'm
tired of fighting against those who sell me. They made
me carry the stain of being a prostitute for 23 years.
Save me."

The Prime Ministry instructed the Social Services
Directorate to take action. They took S.C. from Mersin
and put her in a shelter that is located in an
undisclosed place. Meanwhile, works are underway to
help her find a job and get her son back from the
Mersin orphanage.

"Milliyet" visited her in the shelter.
S.C. told the reporter that she owed her new life to
the state and thanked the state officials. She said
that she was forced to work at brothels in Istanbul,
Adana, Iskenderun and Mersin.

"Once you fall into the hands of pimps there is no way
out. I got married when I was 15. I could not get
along with my husband, so I fled. A woman who promised
to help me pulled me into prostitution. I suffered for
23 years. I rebelled and tried to flee but each time
they found me. My kids don't even call me 'mom.' But
I've repented. I would like to devote myself to my
kids and lead a clean life," she said.

She admitted that she made many mistakes and went on,
"All the bad things that I experienced occurred because
I was young, ignorant and nobody stood up for me.
Write everything openly. Let my bad life be a lesson
to all young girls.

I enjoy gardening that is very relaxing. Now I'm
looking for a job. If a philanthropist person helps
me, I would be grateful. Once I find a job I'll get my
13-year-old son Murat from the orphanage. I would like
to work and earn my living." END TEXT.


12. (U) Published July 30, 2004 by Turkey's BIA News Center
in English:

TITLE: Van Women's Association activists apply for
shelter; BIA News Center; 30/07/2004

BIA (Van) - Members and leaders of "Van Women's
Association" petitioned to the remote southeast city of
Van Municipality urging that violence against women
stopped and a center for shelter and consultation
opened.

According to international standards, for every 7,500
persons there should exist one women's shelter. This
sums up at least to 8,000 shelters for the women of
Turkey whereas there exist only 9," explain the group
of 17 activists.

The "association" points to the fact that women are
forced to commit suicide and murdered under accusations
of acting against the traditional codes of honor. The
group recalled the case of Nemciye Aralin who was
burned to death by her husband in Van's Ozalp village
last week.

Women's demands

Van Women's Association urge that

* All municipalities in Turkey should open
shelters and the municipality of Van should take
the necessary steps,

* Precaution should be taken for all shelters that
are open and that will be opened,
* Shelters should function along the guidelines of
confidentiality and provide security and
psychological support,

* Shelters should remain under the supervision of
women's organizations who should be endowed with a
say in their management. (BB/MN/EK)


13. (U) Published July 30, 2004 by Tbilisi 24 Saati in
Georgian:

Title: Abkhazian Exiled Security Head on Smuggling,
Trafficking, Lost Uranium

[Interview with Levan Kiknadze, exiled head of
Abkhazian Security Service, by Nino Gomarteli; place
and date not given: "Kinds of Transnational Crimes in
Abkhazia"]

Begin FBIS Translated Text: [Gomarteli] What kind of
smuggled goods are in circulation in the Abkhazian
conflict zone and how do they get in?

[Kiknadze] According to our service's information,
there are several main smuggling routes. These are the
Psou border, the sea, the Inguri line; the Caucasus
pass is also active in the summer.

As for the kinds of smuggled goods, it is cigarettes,
fuel, narcotics, and arms that are mainly being
smuggled; these are smuggled in through Abkhazia and
have very negative effects on the Georgian economy and
the environment in general. Specifically, the movement
of these smuggled goods has completely criminalized the
area around Inguri, the guerillas and the local
population as well as the refugees, the Abkhazian side
itself and the peacekeeping forces.

[Gomarteli] What have been the means used to combat
smuggling so far and what is the situation like now?

[Kiknadze] Combating smuggling using administrative
means as was done in past years yielded no results:
The new government has now started implementing legal
measures along with the administrative ones against
major smugglers, organized criminal groups, local
government, and members of the law enforcement
structures, which has had much better results so now
the indicators of smuggling are much lower.

[Gomarteli] What information does your service have
regarding human trafficking in Abkhazia?

[Kiknadze] We have a lot of serious materials about
how people are lost in Abkhazia. These are mainly
citizens of the Russian nationality. However, the
trafficking of people of Turkish nationality brought to
Abkhazia by deceit has increased in Abkhazia of late.
Numerous people have been searched for for a long time
now, mainly men who went to Abkhazia to spend holidays
or set up a small business and whose departure from the
territory has never been recorded anywhere. I can even
tell you the names of some of them, for example,
Vladimir Fedorchenko, Nikolay Kazakov, and Nikolay
Kvortsov, who havbe been being searched for since 2002,
and this list is very long. Of course, there have been
cases when women were taken to the territory that we do
not control who were then transferred to Turkey.

[Gomarteli] What are the ways of smuggling arms, what
routes are there for this?

[Kiknadze] Is it not smuggling when the de facto
government itself is importing arms? Moreover, Russia
is helping it with this and that is why there is no
need to look for the routes of the arms inflow. What
they need is being brought from Russia without any
problems. Incidentally, as soon as the situation in so-
called South Ossetia became tense, the import of arms
and heavy equipment to Abkhazia increased.

The point is that Abkhazia's de facto government does
not trouble itself by carrying arms through the passes
or putting them on the backs of donkeys as these are
being brought in by train, car, and airplane. This has
been officially made legal. The rest of the groups,
for example, Kishmaria, the Kvekvesiri brothers, and
the Kirtadze brothers, are mere performers who are
implementing the government's tasks and this is why no
one resists them.

[Gomarteli] What is the drug smuggling and production
situation in Abkhazia? According to information that
has been disseminated, there is a plant producing
narcotics that is functioning in Sukhumi; has this
information been confirmed?

[Kiknadze] We have not been able to confirm that there
is such a plant in Abkhazia, but we have information
that there are small manufactories that have been
processing poppy and similar substances. The demand
for it results from the fact that drug addiction in
Abkhazia in general is now on a big scale. According
to the latest research, 25 percent of the population
consumes drugs and young women are the majority of
them. It cannot be ruled out that heroin gets to
Abkhazia from Georgia as well, but it is from there
that we get poppy seeds.

There is a danger that radioactive materials could get
abroad from Abkhazia. It is well known that before the
war in Abkhazia, uranium was being enriched in a
special Sukhumi Physics Institute laboratory; according
to our information, there was about 2 kg of enriched
uranium there. During the conflict, in order to
prevent it from leaking, it was placed in a burial
facility. This uranium was later lost. Today, people
in Abkhazia are saying that they have no radioactive
materials. The Georgian Government suggested carrying
out monitoring in order to investigate the situation
but was refused. We think that there is a danger that
these materials will be transferred abroad. END TEXT.


14. (U) Published July 29, 2004 by Belapan News Agency,
Minsk (in Russian):

BEGIN FBIS TRANSLATED EXERPT: Minsk, 29 July: A shelter
for the victims of human trafficking is to open today
in Minsk. It will be established in the framework of a
project to counteract trafficking in women in Belarus,
jointly implemented by the EU and the United Nation's
Development Programme.

The shelter will be established on the premises of a
structural subdivision of the Minsk City Executive
Committee, and is designed for six to eight people. Its
location has not been made public. The shelter will
accept the first women in August.

The project is aimed at providing timely and
professional social, psychological, rehabilitation and
legal assistance and temporary accommodation to victims
of trafficking in women.

The shelter is to be funded by the European Commission.

A regulation on the rehabilitation centre for victims
of trafficking in women was signed by a representative
of the UNDP, Kevin McGrath, and the Chairwoman of the
Committee for Labour and Social Security of the Minsk
City Executive Committee, Iryna Alyakseyeva, in
February 2004.

Experts estimate that the annual turnover of human
trafficking in Belarus alone reaches 15m dollars. Women
from virtually all Belarusian cities are sold to
Russia, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic,
Turkey, Greece, Italy, Spain and Lebanon. END TEXT.

[Passage omitted: working hours and contact information
of the shelter]


15. (U) Published July 28, 2004 by Belapan News Agency,
Minsk (in Russian):

BEGIN BBC Monitoring Service Translation: HEADLINE:
BELARUS, TURKEY SIGN UP TO FIGHT HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND
ILLEGAL MIGRATION
BODY: Minsk, 28 July: Belarusian Interior Minister
Uladzimir Navumaw and his Turkish counterpart
Abdulkadir Aksu signed a memorandum of understanding
today between the interior ministries of Belarus and
Turkey to counter human trafficking and illegal
migration.

The document was adopted as a follow-up to the
cooperation agreement between the interior ministries
of Belarus and Turkey signed on 25 June, and sets forth
specific areas of cooperation to fight human
trafficking and illegal migration, Navumaw said. He
added that the parties had agreed to exchange
information and experts, conduct consultations, and
develop measures to help those who fall prey to human
trafficking and sexual exploitation. In addition, some
Belarusian law-enforcement officers will go through
training at the Turkish interior ministry.

(Passage omitted: Abdulkadir Aksu praises cooperation
with Belarus) END TEXT.

EDELMAN