TIP IN TURKEY: TURKISH MEDIA ATTENTION, Feb 16-28,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 ANKARA 001878

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, Feb 16-28,
2005


1. (U) In response to G/TIP inquiries, national and
international media sources published the following news
articles about TIP in Turkey. Text of articles originally
published in Turkish is provided through unofficial local
FSN translation.


2. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: Modern Slaves; by Berat Guncikan and Ozgur Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: Large, heavy, all words are insufficient. For
them, concepts like justice, equality, and freedom pop one
by one on their faces and bodies. And if "globalization" is
the topic of discussion, they know it best. Because
according to UN figures, each year 4 million people are
subject to human trafficking, including hundreds of
thousands of women who are forced into the sex trade.
Whether a country is at war or at peace, first-world or
third-world, this new "slave trade" can not be prevented;
trafficking in women grows like an avalanche. The
international agreements that Turkey too has signed haven't
been any resistance against this trade, which is the third
behind drugs and arms trafficking. In addition, in almost
all countries trafficking in women reportedly is conducted
under the protection of local security forces. Economic and
political advantages between countries give shape to the
market. While some countries turn a blind-eye, others are
threatened with economic sanctions. In the shadow of all of
them, hundreds of thousands of women are threatened with
torture and assault. Those who don't bow their heads to
criminal organizations are murdered.

One of these murders came to light last month in Istanbul.
Ukrainian Tatyana Litvinenko's one-week baby was suffocated
with chewing gum. Litvinenko, who had a one-and-a-half
year old daughter from her first marriage, was in her second
marriage. She was pregnant and she desperately needed a
job. When she was offered a job as a nanny in Turkey, she
accepted. She learned what work she would actually do at
the house she was brought to when she was picked up from the
airport in Istanbul on July 2, 2004. She was forced into
prostitution despite the fact that she was pregnant. After
24 days, she delivered her baby early. A week later, the
baby was killed because it prevented the mom from working.
The incident came to light months later as the result of a
raid conducted on the basis of a tip.

It was not a coincidence that Litvinenko was a Ukranian.
Because after the collapse of the USSR the women trafficking
exploded, as had been the experience in Africa and Asia
previously. The people of the republics introduced to
capitalism in 1989 found themselves mired in corruption and
unemployment. They no longer had health and social
security, and were bombardment of image and fantasy by the
Western media. Many thought that this was the life style of
ordinary Americans and Western Europeans. Women in
particular decided to emigrate in order to achieve the
living standards of those countries. Turkey became
acquainted with these women, who are referred as "Natashas"
without distinguishing between borders, in the early 1990s.
Beginning on the Black Sea coast, then moving to Istanbul-
Laleli and the southern shores, the "suitcase trade" quickly
turned into a "sex trade." Even if it was on a small scale,
criminal organizations were established in both Turkey and
Russia, depending on this trade. There were incidents of
kidnapping and rape. After being occupied for a short while
with their "social wound" stories, Turkey then became a
transit country. Women brought to Turkey from Asia and the
former Soviet republics were sold to various countries in
Europe. According to an attorney who deals with woman
trafficking cases, the 1994 currency devaluation changed the
movement of trafficking in women in Turkey. Until that
time, women sold by crime organizations in their own
countries to Turkey were able to keep up to 50 percent of
their income after paying their debts to their Turkish
bosses, thus earning money. But during the economic crisis
period, they were forced into working, had their passports
confiscated, and were barred from returning to their
countries. Those who refused to work were punished; one
woman's wrists were cut with a broken glass and another was
killed by a drug overdose. It was not clear whether these
incidents were suicide or murder. As the trafficking market
has grown, incidents of abduction and forcing women for
prostitution have increased. Childcare, patient care,
dancing, and modeling are the jobs offered most often.
Behind "guaranteed" employment advertisements in Russian,
Ukrainian, and Kazakhstani newspapers, generally lurks sex
workership. Tatiana, whose story was told above, came to
Istanbul to become nanny as seen in a newspaper ad and.

TURKEY IN FIGURES

In recent times, Turkey has changed from being primarily a
transit country to being a country to remain in longer. The
market moved particularly to Dubai, Italy and Spain.
Certainly there are women who stayed in Turkey as well.
Women from Moldova and the Ukraine in particular have been
working as nannies and servants in rich households. Rich
"conservative" men reportedly make these women their second
wives after convincing the first. When marriages do not
work or another woman is found, these women are thrown out
in the streets. Since their visas expire, they have to live
illegally in the country.

According to Interior Ministry statistics, approximately
400,000 foreigners were deported between 1995 and 2002. The
center of woman trafficking is Istanbul. In 2001, one-
fourth of the deportations was from this city. In 2002, 74
percent of them belonged to Istanbul. According to a report
prepared for the International Organization for Migration
(IOM) by Prof. Sema Erder and Dr. Selmin Kaska of the
Marmara University Labor Economics Department, each year 1.5
million people enter Turkey from Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova, Romania, Russia and Ukraine. According to the same
report, 90% of deportations (between 1999-2001, 22,000 women
in all) involved illegal prostitution and sexually-
transmitted disease. Contrary to popular belief, most of
those deported because of diseases were from Georgia and
Romania, while Russia was at the bottom of the list.

According to information obtained from the Istanbul Police
Human Trafficking Department, as a result of 76 operations
carried out in 2004, 9,905 people were deported.

The Istanbul police conducted 11 operations in connection
with woman trafficking. While police arrested 18 people, 17
women were deported, and 33 victims were saved. Most of the
victims said that they were lured by job offers to work as
servants, models, or show girls, but later were forced into
prostitution. According to reports by Amnesty
International, while some policemen find places for victims
to stay through their own means, some policemen take bribes
from gangs and prostitutes. The reports noted that last
year 11 people were detained Erzurum for being involved in
human trafficking, including three policemen, and a court
case was opened against 13 police on charges of involvement
in crime.

TREATMENT OF ILLEGAL MIGRATION

A report written by Leyla Gulcur from the New York
University and Pinar Ilkkaracan, President of the Human
Rights For Women Foundation (KIHV) entitled "Natasha
Incident: Immigrant Sex Workers in Turkey from Eastern
Europe and the Former Soviet Union" agrees with Amnesty
International. Because of these women's illegal status and
also their status as victims, they are unable to open a bank
account and get health services. Some police officials
reportedly abuse this situation and make the women give them
bribes.

In their report, Gulcur and Ilkkaracan emphasize that it's
also a woman's "own preference" to go from one country to
another for sex work, and that during operations police
should ask victims whether they were forced to come to a
country or arrived voluntarily. Ilkkaracan said "women may
have migrated voluntarily for sex work, as is their right.
But keeping them in an illegal position, and their inability
to organize, prevents their voices be heard. Thus they
cannot tell what they have experienced and are deported
immediately against their will. In addition, there are no
NGOs in Turkey for these women. In other countries, NGOs
working on this issue put up a struggle with these policies
in their states."

In interviews done by the two women in the process of
preparing this report, one of the complaints of female sex
workers was that "the insistence of Turkish men on not using
condoms." END TEXT.

Women said that in order not to use condoms, men offered to
pay extra money. Ilkkaracan draws attention to one specific
danger: "women are deported due to sexually-transmitted
diseases but men who had intercourse with these women cast a
bigger risk than these women in spreading disease."

3. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: Crime Partnerships in Trafficking in Women; by Berat
Guncikan and Ozgur Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: Russian Organized Crime (ROC) has more than 200
organizations that are active in 58 countries, including
Turkey. In each country they cooperate with local mafia and
gangs. They all resort to violence even for the smallest
problems. Japan's Yakuza kills women who try to escape.
Turkish and Serbian mafia prefer to throw women from the
balconies of high buildings. Last year an Azeri women fell
from the 10th floor of an apartment in Beylikduzu, Istanbul.
According to the neighbors, she was thrown out of the
window. The Jandarma was called but the house was already
evacuated. According to a source, Turks among those who
manage Europe's prostitution network as well. The direct
trade in women together with Russians, Ukrainians and
Yugoslavs.

Nobody knows how many women and children are kidnapped in
Russia for sexual exploitation. It is estimated that this
figure reaches the hundreds of thousands. According to
estimates of the U.S. Department of Interior, in 1997 alone
more than 100,000 women were kidnapped from the former
Soviet Union.

The corridor which has the worst reputation in woman
trafficking is the Balkan path. Knitting together Serbia,
Croatia, Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Kosovo,
even during political clashes this road's traffickers can
reach an agreement when the issue is "trade." While
Serbians and Albanians cooperate in trafficking in women,
the Kosovo Liberation Army also uses this market. By taking
bribes sometimes of cash, sometimes of free sex, police and
civil servants open the way for pervasiveness of trafficking
in women.

In Bosnia, more than 5000 East European women were involved
in prostitution in more than 260 bars. The Peace-keeping
force troops and UN police were among their clients.
Complaints of women were not taken into consideration and
investigations were either swept under rug or interrupted.

The E-55 between Dresden and Prague is one of the heavily-
used areas of the sex trade. Each year HIV-positive or drug-
addicted babies are born. Children are left in an orphanage
close to the highway.

Israel is one of the favorite countries for crime
organizations. According to Israeli police sources, more
than $400 million are made from prostitution in Israel. The
subject of a court case in Israel was a Russian organized
crime organization's attempt to buy a seat in the Knesset,
Israel's parliament.

The UAE is one of the countries where kidnapped women from
Russia are taken. There is no information about the fate of
the women who end up in this country.

In Toronto 53 Asian women brought through illegal means and
forced into prostitution to pay the debts from their voyage
were arrested along with their pimps and mediating agency
reps. Women were accused of prostitution and violating the
Immigration Law. Those who brought them were accused with
lighter crimes such as "keeping by force" rather than
torture or sex slavery.

The Internet is a network that contributes to the expansion
of the sex trade. World Sex Guide is the most well-known
site, with ties to millions of people in hundreds of
countries. On this site men share their experiences and
information on where to find prostitutes in any country and
which hotels to use. According to this website, Turkey is a
paradise of Ukrainian women. A man advises another one "if
you go to Seranda in Istanbul, you will find lots of women
from former USSR and you can take any one of them to the
hotel next door. You will not be hurt with the price
either." END TEXT.

4. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: Punishments Were Increased; by Berat Guncikan and
Ozgur Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: In October 2000, the American government
prepared a law on "Protecting Victims of Trafficking and
Violence." Countries were divided into groups depending on
whether they turned a blind-eye, remained inefficient or
were supportive on the issue of trafficking in persons.
America was not in any group. Countries reaching the
minimum standards were put into Tier 1. Those who showed
some effort were put in Tier 2 and those who were not
intervening in this trade at all were put in Tier 3.
Turkey, along with Greece, Russia, Yugoslavia and South
Korea, was in Tier 3 in the first Human Trafficking Report
in 2001. In the following years, it stayed in that
category.
Israel, however, moved into Tier 2 in the second report
without showing any effort. South Korea was pulled into
Tier 1. Meanwhile, figures showed that 2,000-3,000 women
went to Israel each year for prostitution. It seemed that
the report was prepared depending on economic and diplomatic
activities. The reason for South Korea's placement in the
first group is that there were 37,000 U.S. troops there, and
they needed to be with women from Russia and Philippines in
the bars next door.

In the 3rd report, Turkey was moved into Tier 2. The reason
for this was Turkey's legal changes. One of these changes
was the introduction of Article 201/b of the Turkish Penal
Code. While Article 436 regarding forced prostitution was
already in existence, the punishment was imprisonment for
one year. Article 201/b, however, prescribes a five-year
jail sentence for traffickers. END TEXT.


5. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: 43 Women in Four Months; by Berat Guncikan and Ozgur
Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: The Human Resource Development Foundation works
on behalf of human trafficking victims. Along with IOM, it
provides education police, jandarma, judges and prosecutors
on human trafficking and how to approach victims. Until now
214 people have benefited from this training. To date, the
shelter was opened on November 1 and operated by HRDF has
provided support to 43 victims. There are Slavic and
Russian speaking employees at the shelter.

Victims reach the shelter as a result of raids by the police
or jandarma. When the Foundation receives a tip, they
inform the police. Wherever the operation takes place,
victims are brought to Istanbul because there is no other
shelter in another city. IOM determines whether the
interrogated woman is a victim or not, and if she is a
victim, then she is taken into the shelter.

While in the past women were deported immediately, now they
are issued a 6-month residence permit. Using this, the
victim's psychological situation is stabilized, and the
Foundation provides psychological support to the victims if
necessary. Women are given food and clothing, and the
necessary travel documents are prepared. The victim is sent
to her country with a plane ticket bought by IOM, and IOM
accompanies her in her home country. If needed, she may
receive rehabilitation in her country as well. Foundation
administrators think that biggest importance of the NGOs is
the confidence they provide to the victim. Many women
prefer to tell their experiences at the shelter rather than
at the police. Foundation officials said that many dealers
were captured this way. END TEXT.


6. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: It's Not My "Duty," I'll Do Whatever I Want; by Berat
Guncikan and Ozgur Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: Galma Jahic, from Bilgi University Faculty of
Law, is working on her PhD at the Rutgers University in the
U.S. on smuggling of women in Bosnia. She noted that states
generally treat smuggling of women as "illegal immigration."
Describing police attempts to prevent organized crime, she
says that "certain privileges were provided to women who
cooperate with the police. No measures are taken to prevent
victimization."

Jahic stated, "In Bosnia there was almost no prostitution in
Bosnia. In reality, Bosnian women would not be able to find
customers, because all people know each other. However, you
could ask for a foreign woman. In some Bosnian clubs there
were women brought from abroad and going to those clubs is
regarded as an indication of power and status. A night out
at one of these clubs costs 400 Euros."

When women go to a country, for a long time they are not
paid and they regard the first money they earn as "hope for
the future." Jahic explains this as follows:

"In their police statements, they said that if they did not
earn money they would be disgraced, but if they go back to
their country with money, nobody would ask them any
questions. The problems in source countries cause their
people to abandon their countries. But Bosnia is in an
interesting position here. During the communist period
there was no religion, and later this ideology disappeared
and was replaced by nationalism. As international
organizations did not do anything, then there was nothing
left to believe in. It means everything is permitted."

According to Jahic, sex workers in western Europe organized
themselves and introduced requirements on the use of condoms
and rate "standards." This gave direction to human
trafficking as foreign women were forced to work below these
standards. END TEXT.


7. (U) Published Sunday, February 27 by Cumhuriyet as part
of a three-page supplement:

TITLE: The Doors Were Locked, The Windows Were Nailed Down;
by Berat Guncikan and Ozgur Erbas

BEGIN TEXT: Marika was from Kharkiv in the Ukraine. She
thought she would work as a waitress in Tel Aviv because she
had reached an agreement with the agency. She was locked
in a room along with two Ukrainians, one Russian and a
Moldovan woman. After putting on a see-through long
nightgown, she was introduced to her "owner." The man
purchased them for $10,000 each. He told them in strong and
certain terms what they will face if they refuse to perform
their jobs. They could not object because Avi, the guardian
who is capable of doing anything, was there and had nailed
down all the windows of the apartment. She tried to escape
but nobody helped her.

Tanya accepted a job offer from a friend of her mom. She
would serve as a servant for a family living in the UAE and
in return would earn $4000 a month. But instead she was
taken to Abu Dhabi and sold to a brothel. She found a way
to take shelter at a nearby police station after three
months. She was arrested for prostitution but was released
after three years.

Olexandra (23) was a university graduate and a mother. She
was in severe financial difficulties. She accepted a job
offer in Germany and went to Poland. After being beaten,
raped, and forced to stay in a building, she was smuggled to
Germany. She was sold to men many times by Turkish
marketers and made to work in various German brothels. She
was captured during a police raid. She was sick, and was
deported and sent back to the Ukraine. Her disease was
diagnosed as serious internal infection.

Eastern European countries are the breaking points of women
in woman trafficking. Women who do not want to be
prostitutes are taught prostitution in these countries;
those who do not want to do it become subject to violence.
Romanian Sophia was kidnapped by two knife-wielding men and
was sold to a Serb. She was put in a house where there were
many women from Moldova, the Ukraine, and Bulgaria. Those
who did not follow orders were beaten and raped. Some tried
to commit suicide. Sophia was "educated" by the third day
in the house. She was taken to Albania, and then Italy.

Natalie was from Siberia. She went to Hong Kong via China
as a dancer. Her working permit was immediately confiscated
and she was made to work as a prostitute. She was popular
and was earning around $3000 a night. A rich attorney from
New Zealand fell in love with her. When she reciprocated,
the mafia cancelled her work permit and visa. She was
deported and the lawyer followed her back to Siberia. After
a few days the bodies of the two were found in her home.
The attorney was shot and killed but Natalie was killed
under torture.

Twenty-seven year old Valentina was a Ukrainian psychologist
and social worker who arrived in Israel in August 1998. She
thought that she would work as a company representative.
Her passport, money and return ticket was confiscated, she
was taken to a flat, and was forced to work as a prostitute
there for two months. She said, "The conditions were
horrible. A girl was forced to work in a basement for eight
months. That place was humid and the girl died of
tuberculosis. Most of the girls had venereal diseases. I
don't want the enemy of my experiences to come to my mind."
Valentina finally managed to escape but was arrested in
March 1999 for not having proper documentation. She was
afraid to testify against the man who sold her because that
man knew where her family lived in the Ukraine.

(These women's stories and information was taken from a book
by Victor Malarek published by Bilgi Publishing entitled
"Natashas: Inside the New Global Sex Trade.") END TEXT.


8. (U) Published Wednesday, February 23 by Kiev Interfax-
Ukraine:

TITLE: Ukraine: Police Uncover Ring Trafficking Young Women
From Ukraine to Turkey

BEGIN FBIS TRANSLATED TEXT: Kiev, 23 February: Law-enforcers
in Zaporizhzhya and the Istanbul police have uncovered a
criminal group, which for seven years had been involved in
trafficking young women from various regions of Ukraine to
Turkey.

The Interior Ministry's public relations department said
today that a female national of Ukraine was the mastermind
of the "human trafficking". She rented two apartments in
Istanbul where she kept about a dozen Ukrainian women at a
time to be sold to sex businesses.

The Ukrainian and Istanbul police detained the members and
key-persons of the organized crime group during the transfer
of the sex slaves to foreigners in the Palace Hotel in
Istanbul.

The department said that, as of today, a court in Istanbul
has declared two Ukrainian women the victims of trafficking
in humans. They were deported to Ukraine. Prosecutors in
Istanbul have also opened a criminal case against the
criminal ring.

The Interior Ministry also said that the investigation
department of the regional police directorate in
Zaporizhzhya Region has lodged a criminal investigation
against a member of the organized crime group, who is a
resident of Zaporizhzhya and was also involved in recruiting
and smuggling women to Turkey. END TEXT.

[Description of Source: Kiev Interfax-Ukraine in Russian --
Service provided by the Russian news agency Interfax
focusing on events in Ukraine]


9. (U) Broadcast Wednesday, February 23 by Bucharest Antena
1 Television:

TITLE: Romanian Police Arrest Members of PKK Ring Suspected
of Trafficking Humans

BEGIN FBIS TRANSLATED TEXT:
The PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party] is a fearsome
organization, which is again attracting the attention of
European intelligence services. One of its Balkan leaders
was arrested this morning in Bucharest. Simultaneously,
other PKK leaders were handcuffed in Hungary, Austria, and
France. There is information that the money obtained from
trafficking in human beings, which the organization is
alleged to be practicing, is used to finance terrorist
actions all over the world. Officers and prosecutors of
the Directorate in Charge of Investigating Organized Crime
and Terrorism have detained 11 individuals who have ties
with the PKK. They are illegal migrants and guides, Kurds
and Romanians.

[Begin correspondent Mile Carpenisan recording] The raid
takes place at the home of Chyalal Gyunesh, the leader of
the Eastern European ring trafficking human beings.
Arrested in bed, Gyunesh is handcuffed. Still dizzy, he
watches the search. The organized crime officers and
prosecutors find passports hidden behind the paintings in
the house. They take deeds, cell phones, and a lot of bank
documents with the names of the ring members, which prove
that money was paid into their accounts.

Gyunesh and his concubine are escorted to the General
Prosecuting Magistracy. A few minutes later, several
police vehicles belonging to the special troops bring other
people who were arrested last night in Varsan, Sinaia, and
Campina.

The first to fall into the net were five Kurds in Arad.
They were caught along the border while trying to leave
Romania. The organized crime officers in Timisoara chased
them into the fields for minutes on end. The Kurds entered
Romania legally as tourists, they landed at Otopeni Airport
[near Bucharest] and from there they were taken by Bucharest-
based hosts. The Kurds paid 6,000 euros each to Gyunesh.
The guides led them to places close to the western border.
Sheltered by the night, they were helped to cross over to
Hungary. From there they were taken to Vienna, Paris, or
London, where important PKK cells are active.

According to the intelligence services, the money collected
by Gyunesh was divided between the ring members and the PKK.
According to the SRI [Romanian Intelligence Service], the
PKK is a threat to our national security. In Romania, at
least 1,500 PKK members are active. With the money it
makes out of trafficking human beings, drug dealing,
kidnapping, and extortion, the PKK buys weapons and trains
its future terrorists. [end recording]

Antena 1 was the only television station to have
participated in the entire action to catch the PKK leader.
Mile Carpenisan tells us more. Good evening. Mile, you
were there, how long has the ring been monitored in Romania?

[Carpenisan] Good evening. The first pieces of information
about this ring functioning on Romanian soil emerged as
early as September last year. The surveillance began at
the same time. The specialized services joined in, and
they tried to identify all the structures. Now, almost six
months on, this operation has been completed. Today at the
Prosecuting Magistracy, the prosecutors and the organized
crime officers interviewed a general and several individuals
involved in this ring.

[Stoicescu] Why did it take so long to catch the 12 people?

[Carpenisan] Such operations are always very meticulous and
nobody wants to hurry, so that no leader or member of the
ring will escape. Hence, the first orders to field
officers were to find out who the leader was. After they
found out this, they immediately tried to identify all the
nests, the so-called nests in the country. This is because
the operation did not take place only in Bucharest and in
the west of the country; it was also expanded to Sinaia,
Brasov, Campina, Sibiu, and the Arad area.
[Stoicescu] Thank you. END TEXT.

[Description of Source: Bucharest Antena 1 Television in
Romanian -- nationwide independent television station of
general interest]


10. (U) Broadcast Wednesday, February 23 by Romanian private
Pro TV:

TITLE: Romanian police "annihilate" Kurdish network of human
trafficking

BEGIN FBIS TRANSLATED TEXT: [Announcer] Twenty Turkish
citizens of Kurdish origin, alleged of being affiliates of
terrorist organization, were picked up by police from
various addresses in Bucharest. The Kurds are suspected of
belonging to a human trafficking network operating on Turkey-
Romania-Western Europe route. More details about this case
and its implications we have from our correspondent Oana
Maiuga. Good evening Oana.

[Correspondent] Good evening Andreea. The operation that had
been carried out for more than a year had the purpose of
retaining some Turkish citizens of Kurdish origin who were
carrying out a real business of human trafficking, having
its base in Romania. The leader of this network and his
lover were arrested less than five hours ago at an address
in the capital. This network was very well organized. The
migrants left Turkey legally and arrived here in Romania. On
arriving in Bucharest they were accommodated at four
addresses in the capital where they stayed until the ground
was clear. What this means is that the Kurds were taken to
the Romanian border with Hungary and there they were
illegally taken over the border with the help of certain
guides. In Hungary they were taken over by other guides who
took them, illegally of course, to Austria. And from Vienna
to other western capitals there was just only a step. The
first arrests were made in Hungary. Seven members of the
network were caught there by the Hungarian police. These
members were engaged in trafficking these people. There
followed other five arrests on the Romanian western border
twenty five hours ago. These arrests were made by the
Romanian Organized Crime. Finally, the arrests made today,
four domiciliary searches with twelve persons taken in
custody, one at the house of the network's leader and the
others at the addresses where the migrants had been hidden.
At this hour the persons alleged with implication in this
case are being heard. This can be considered one of the
largest networks of human trafficking that has ever been
annihilated on the territory of Romania, through an
international cooperation, to which a very important
contribution was brought by the police in Romania and
Hungary. We shall keep you posted with the later
developments of this case.

[Announcer] Thank you. END TEXT.

[Description of Source: Bucharest Pro TV in Romanian]


11. (U) Published Friday, February 18 by the Turkish Daily
News; http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/:

TITLE: Prostitution, a growing problem; By Gul Demir

BEGIN TEXT: ISTANBUL - Turkish Daily News

Many countries have implemented effective policies to
prevent violence against women. But Turkey is at the very
beginning of this process.

Within the scope of the Copenhagen criteria and the European
Union accession program, there is a process that is
encouraging rapid legal arrangements to stop violence
against women and promote equality in life.

The dimension of the trade in women that we faced while
conducting a study on how effective these legal arrangements
reveals a terrible contradiction. Women are regarded as
representing the honor of men and become victims of murders
intended to protect the men's honor, but at the same time
the trade in women is increasing.

How do women, especially those following such problems in
Diyarbakyr, explain this situation?

Diyarbakyr Bar Women's Rights Desk lawyer Hamiyet Yzol says:
"There are women who are murdered for honor on one side.
There are families that sell women because of poverty on the
other. We don't need scientific data; we can see this with
the naked eye. There is a great increase in women's
prostitution and the trade in young girls in Diyarbakyr. In
addition there is the matter of the trade in young boys."

Evaluating the increase in women's prostitution as a result
of long-term conflict in the region, Yzol says: "The
environment of conflict caused men to lose their jobs. The
number of women who lost their husbands and sons rapidly
increased. There is a transition period now, and women again
are suffering the most. They must make a living. The fact
that the women living in the region are not literate makes
it impossible for them to find a qualified job. The existing
jobs are for men, and that's why women have very little
chance of finding a job," she continued. "Additionally, the
number of children in Kurdish families is high. In such an
environment women begin to sell their bodies to meet their
needs."

Stating that education alone is not enough to achieve a
solution, Yzol stresses that the region's economy should be
improved and unemployment sharply reduced.

Noting that the Kurdish problem is related to the problems
of women, Yzol adds: "If the Kurdish problem is
democratically solved, it will be easier to solve the
problems of the women and the region. But as long as the
Kurdish problem continues, neither can the economy recover
nor can the problems of women be solved."

An important look at a vital issue finally sees light:

Handan Co_kun from the Diyarbakyr Women's Problems Research
Center (DIKASOM) conducted a study with a colleague from
2001 through 2003 on the increase in women's prostitution.
Cokun told the Turkish Daily News what she discovered
during the research.

"A man commits murder for honor on the one side, and another
man besmirches honor on the other. This is a very strange
contradiction.

"I conducted a study investigating this contradiction," she
explains. "I think the answer to the question, `Why
prostitution?' is very clear. There are people living in
poverty and deprivation in Diyarbakyr. People who lived with
some confidence in the past feel themselves very lonely some
time later. This is very clear.

"There is supply and demand in the economy. This is the same
in women's prostitution. If 1,000 women sell their bodies,
it means they had sex with at least 10,000 men."

Male involvement in prostitution was ignored in Diyarbakyr,
says Co_kun, and the issue was handled "strangely."

"Everyone got snagged on the numbers," she says. "Both the
police department and nongovernmental organizations said,
`It is impossible that this number of women could be
involved in it.' But they never thought that, if men did not
demand it, there wouldn't be so many women in prostitution.
This caused me the greatest trouble in conducting this work.

"I didn't publicly announce the study because I can't tell
you the criticism that I received during my research. We
talked to 26 women. I prepared their reports, but I suffered
a lot.

"I was stabbed on the street and received threats," Cokun
says. "I didn't receive financial or spiritual support from
any institute, not even women's organizations. I didn't
announce it personally because it was before elections and
everyone was focused on the elections.

"I didn't say anything because my life was in danger. The
police department and women's organizations perceived the
issue as my own problem."

"Today I feel sorry for the high school students who unfurl
banners saying, `Stop prostitution in high schools.' My
reaction against institutions that remain silent on this
issue increases every day," Cokun says, expressing her
pain.

Her study found that terrible things are going on: families
selling their girls and boys into sexual servitude. Has
Diyarbakir really become a place where young children are
being sold? Is poverty there so desperate? And who is going
to investigate this matter that seems to have escaped
everybody's eyes and attention? Or more likely, no one
wanted to learn about it.

What should be done?

Rahime Karaka_ from the Diyarbakyr Women's Platform talks
about the reasons women's prostitution has increased in the
region.

"It is said that dirtiness is where poverty is. But I think
people have lost their honor.

"Both my soul and my body suffer pain. I grieve deeply
whenever I go out. Everyone living in this city has a role
in women's prostitution.

"There was poverty 20 years ago but no prostitution,"
Karaka says. "Men did not sell women."

"Can you imagine that a person would sell his sisters or
r
brothers? The age of prostitution has been reduced to 13.
Prices are very cheap and start at TL 20 million and go down
to TL 10 million," she says. "It is said that at least 400
families sell women in Diyarbakyr. There is not humane way
of measuring how a married man could sell his wife and yet
their marriage continues."

Just how does this abuse occur? Those who sell women rent a
house in the city or a room in a hotel for one hour or just
for half an hour. Karaka gives an example of one of her
experiences:

"A quite elderly man in the Diyarbakir retirement home
rented the house of a person whom we know. They brought a
man who had completed his military service to this house.
When he neared the house, this man said, `My elder sister
lives in this house.' When he learned why the person had
rented the house, he told his sister. The house was raided,
and they saw that there was nothing but three beds in the
house.

"Is the environment of conflict and the evacuation of
villages only the state's mistake?" Karakas asks. "These are
deep issues that must be discussed."

"I tell everyone who is engaged in education that mothers
and fathers must be educated in schools at night or on
holidays. Specialists who know the psychology of mothers and
fathers must be asked to help. Also, economic problems must
be solved. Otherwise, this society will disappear," she
warns.

"Accordingly, incest and homosexual relations are increasing
in families. Three children, aged 12, had anal sex with a
primary school child in the garden of the school during
recess. Nothing was done in spite of the police, the
gendarmerie, reports, etc. At least this child should have
received psychological support. I hear such events every
day."

Karaka_ expresses a view shared by many in Diyarbakyr when
she says: "There has been an increase in the murder of women
by choking, throwing them into the water and forcing them to
commit suicide. The murder of women is becoming incorporated
among father, husband and brother."

As punishments for such killings increase, she says, reports
of such killings appear less frequently in newspapers,
partly because they are being concealed.

"Murder makes the family powerful in society," she says. "It
is said that they secretly solved their problem."

Emphasizing that the laws regarding women that were adjusted
to EU requirements are not practically implemented in the
southeastern region, Karaka says, "Even if it is said that
EU membership will relieve the country, it depends on how
much the people living in this atmosphere understand it."
Karaka_ stresses that women, who faced emigration and
poverty and who were sold for a bride price for years, are
not aware of the laws favoring them. The Diyabakyr Bar
Women's Rights Desk is expending much effort on this issue,
Karaka says.

She gives an example: "I am beaten by my husband and father
first. Then I'll receive a document from the public
c
prosecutor's office proving it. I will take this document to
the Diyarbakyr Bar and say that I am always beaten and face
harassment.

"But there are many women who don't know where to apply. How
will the women who don't speak Turkish apply? I think they
must be educated as to their rights and the institutions
they can apply to. They will first learn that their husband
and father have no right to do this." END TEXT.

EDELMAN