TIP IN TURKEY: TURKISH MEDIA ATTENTION, JAN 1-15,

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 05 ANKARA 000331

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, JAN 1-15,
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 January 14 by Iran Mania News (FBIS
Translation):

TITLE: Iran, Turkey to expand security cooperation

BEGIN TEXT: LONDON, Jan 14 (IranMania) - The Islamic
Republic of Iran and Turkey signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) on security cooperation.

Iran`s Deputy Interior Minister for Security Affairs
Hossein Motahar signed the MoU with his Turkish
counterpart during the 21st session of Joint Security
Committee in Ankara.

The MoU focuses on campaign against drug trafficking,
smuggling of goods, human trafficking, money
laundering, terrorism as well as organized crimes at
bilateral and regional levels as well as among the ECO
members states.

It was agreed that the 22nd session of the Joint
Security Committee would be held in December-November

2005.

The Iranian delegation consisted of representatives
from ministry of foreign affairs, interior ministry,
army and police. END TEXT.


3. (U) Published January 13 by Almaty Interfax-Kazakhstan in
Russian (FBIS Translation):

TITLE: Kazakhstan Steps Up Fight Against Human
Trafficking

BEGIN FBIS Translated Excerpt: Astana, 13 January: The
Kazakh Justice Ministry has said the country's law-
enforcement agencies have stepped up the fight against
human trafficking for sexual and labor exploitation.

"The law enforcement bodies and the bodies of the
National Security Committee have considerably stepped
up activities against this problem. In 2004, five
channels of trafficking Kazakh citizens abroad for
sexual and other exploitation were identified and
blocked," Deputy Justice Minister Ubaydulla Stamkulov
said today, addressing a session of the inter-
departmental commission for fighting human trafficking.

The session, which was chaired by Justice Minister
Onalsyn Zhumabekov, summed up the results of work by
state bodies within the framework of implementation of
a government plan to fight and prevent crimes related
to human trafficking in 2004-05.

Stamkulov said that in 2004, the country's Interior
Ministry bodies had instituted 12 criminal cases under
Article 128 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan
"Recruiting and trafficking people for exploitation,"
which is twice as many as in 2003.

Seven of the indicated number of the criminal cases
were sent to court, one was dropped, two were suspended
and the rest are undergoing legal proceedings.

Courts have passed verdict of guilty on three cases,
the minister said.

Meanwhile, he said, 13 cases were instituted last
year on organizing illegal migration of citizens from
CIS countries. In 2003, 11 such cases were instituted.

As a result, Stamkulov said, six people were
convicted on nine cases in 2004.

He also presented statistics, according to which, 77
private employment agencies were registered in
Kazakhstan as of 1 January 2005, and 80 licenses were
issued for activities in attracting foreign manpower
and taking manpower from Kazakhstan.

Referring to information provided by the Labor and
Social Protection Ministry, Stamkulov said in 2004,
private agencies helped 1,083 Kazakhs find jobs in
South Korea, eight in Turkey, 526 in Russia.

Over 3,000 Kyrgyz citizens also found jobs in the
agricultural sector in Almaty Region last year. END
TEXT.

[Passage omitted: In November 2004 Kazakhstan signed UN
convention on fight against human trafficking, and the
republic's parliament has yet to ratify it]


4. (U) Published January 12 by the semi-official Turkish
language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: The border patrol and Jandarma captured 38
illegal immigrants at the Edirne border. The group
included 30 Iraqis, 5 Somalians and 3 Iranians; all
were captured in Ipsala and Enez.

The illegal immigrants were sent to the Edirne Police
Foreigners and Passport Department for deportation. END
TEXT.


5. (U) Published January 11 by the semi-official Turkish
language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: Jandarma captured 57 foreigners who were
illegally trying to leave Turkey in Edirne.

In the military zone near the Turpcular village of
Ipsala, the Jandarma captured 41 Somalians, 4 Iraqis, 3
Moroccans and in the Serem village of Meric, 4
Algerians and 5 Pakistanis.

The illegal immigrants were sent to the Edirne Passport
and Foreigners' Police for deportation. END TEXT.


6. (U) Published January 10 by the semi-official Turkish
language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: Istanbul Police carried out an operation in
Silivri and captured six people involved in forced
prostitution.

Police raided a villa in the Mimar Sinan district of
Silivri, and captured Ukrainian citizen Tatyana L.,
Murat K., Tugce K., her brother Serafettin K., Saffet
A., and Lyubov K.

Tatyana L. told the police that her husband died and
when she was 7 months pregnant she was offered a job in
Turkey as a babysitter/cleaning lady. When she came to
Turkey, she realized that she was in the hands of a
gang that marketed foreign women to clients.

She gave birth to her child in Istanbul and when she
had to spare some time to the baby, the gang reportedly
suffocated the child.

The court arrested Murat K., Tugce K., her brother
Serafettin K., Saffet A., and Lyubov K. for "killing a
baby," forming a gang to do woman trafficking at
international level, and forgery. END TEXT.


7. (U) Published January 7, 2005 by the Pakistan Daily
Times:

More than 9,000 illegal Pakistani immigrants killed
By Shahzad Malik

BEGIN TEXT: ISLAMABAD: Border security forces in Greece
and Turkey have killed more than 9,000 Pakistanis,
trying to enter the two countries illegally in the past
10 years.

In 2004, more than 100 Pakistani nationals had been
killed and 2,000 had been arrested while trying to slip
into European and other countries without proper
documents, revealed a report compiled by a Rawalpindi-
based human rights organisation. The report said at
least 938 Pakistanis had been killed by the security
forces at the 200 kilometre-long border of Greece and
Turkey, on the charges of illegal entry.
The authorities in the two countries had laid land
mines in the border area to prevent illegal foreigners
from entering, the report said. The report said the
Iranian border security forces had killed 13 Pakistanis
when they were entering Iran in January 2004, adding
that nine Pakistanis had drowned at the Dubai coast in
January 2004 and more than 90 Pakistanis were still
missing after they got lost in the tidal waves while
entering into Australia on August 16, 2004.

Ulfat Kazmi, president of the Global organisation, said
border security forces of Iran had arrested 1,528
illegal Pakistan immigrant, Turkey's police caught 211
and Greece border security force apprehended 158
Pakistanis who were trying to enter these countries
illegally.

Talking to Daily Times, he said the Pakistanis who had
been caught at different places suffered in jails and
the Pakistani embassies in these countries had not made
arrangements for their release.

Explaining the modus operandi of the travel agents
involved in human trafficking, Federal Investigation
Agency (FIA) sources said they (travel agents) arrange
visas and other travelling documents to Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Hong Kong or other easy destinations and
from there people were sent to European countries
without valid travel documents.

FIA's immigration staff at the Islamabad airport said
up to 17 deportation cases had been registered in 2004.
END TEXT.


8. (U) Published January 5, 2005 by the Cyprus Mail:

TITLE: `Modest progress' tackling flesh trade
By Jean Christou; US: Cyprus needs better protection for
victims

BEGIN TEXT: CYPRUS has made moderate progress in
combating human trafficking, according to an interim
assessment by the US State Department, which has put a
number of countries on a special watch list.

In June last year, for the first time, the US put Cyprus
on a watch list of countries, which lacked effort in
combating human trafficking. Although human trafficking
has been rampant on the island for well over a decade, US
embassy officials said they did not have enough evidence
until recently to include the island on its `Trafficking
in Persons' (TIP) report, which was first launched in

2000.

On December 22 the State Department submitted to Congress
its first Interim Assessment of the countries in
question, including Cyprus, which it says has made
"modest progress in its efforts to combat trafficking".

It said that a number of planned government initiatives
have yet to be approved and implemented. Two
intergovernmental groups meet regularly to discuss anti-
trafficking efforts and promote information sharing.

The groups expect to officially present to the government
a national plan to combat trafficking and legislation to
address trafficking and immigration by the end of 2004.

There was a significant increase in trafficking-related
arrests in the first 10 months of 2004, which numbered
173 compared to 26 in 2003. Additionally, 15 cases are
being tried under 2000 anti-trafficking legislation,
although no one has been convicted, the report said.

"While police produced press releases on every
trafficking in persons-related arrest, the government has
funded no large-scale efforts to educate the public on
trafficking," it added.

"The government froze the issuing of new cabaret licenses
in June 2004. It has prohibited hiring replacements of
women on "artiste" visas who are identified as victims
and removed from their cabaret employment."

This means that women who are trafficking victims and
leave a cabaret now have the right to stay in Cyprus and
receive legal advice and financial assistance if they
agree to aid the police in prosecuting their former
employer or the person who trafficked them to the island.

The Government has also set aside several rooms for
trafficking victims in government- subsidized homes for
the elderly until more permanent shelters can be secured.

"Victim protection remains inadequate. The Government
drafted, but has not yet finalised or distributed, an
information sheet to provide to newly arrived female
foreign workers," the report concludes.

The TIP report covers 140 countries worldwide and is
divided into four categories. Tier 1 countries, which
include mostly European states, are those where
trafficking is big business but where the authorities
pull out all the stops to combat it. Tier 1 has 25
countries listed and also includes South Korea, Morocco,
Ghana and Taiwan.

Countries in the Tier 2 category, which has 54 states
listed, are those where trafficking is rife but
authorities are making significant effort to combat it,
and have shown progress since the previous report last
year such as Afghanistan and Iran. Tier 3 countries,
where the US says nothing is being done includes North
Korea, Cuba and Sudan.

Cyprus has been categorised in what the report calls the
`Tier 2 Watch List' along with Greece and Turkey,
Nigeria, Russia, Pakistan and The Congo and another 35
countries. At least 100 cases in each country must be
documented to warrant attention. The US has 16,000
documented cases.

Cyprus is on Tier 2 Watch List because its efforts
against trafficking are based largely on the government's
commitments to implement's recommendations made by the
Ombudswoman last year.

Several of the countries in the Tier 2 category,
including Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are not on the `watch
list' although they appeared when the list was issued to
be doing less than Cyprus to combat trafficking.

The original report said that Lebanon had taken `minimal
steps' in 2003 and offered only limited information on
arrests for trafficking. Saudi Arabia has no trafficking
laws and few victims are encouraged to press charges. END
TEXT.


9. (U) Published January 5, 2005 by the semi-official
Turkish language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: Jandarma captured 33 foreigners attempting
to cross the border illegally into the Ipsala and Meric
sub-provinces of Edirne.

Jandarma operations netted 14 Somalians, eight
Palestinians, seven Iraqis, two Moroccans, one Burmese
and one Mauritanian.

The illegal immigrants were sent to the Passport and
Foreigners Department of the Edirne Police for
deportation. END TEXT.



10. (U) Published January 4, 2005 by the semi-official
Turkish language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: Jandarma captured 37 foreigners and their
two Turkish guides in Ipsala, Edirne. The illegal
immigrants included 32 Iraqis and five Pakistanis along
with their guide Erdem K. (33) on a pick-up truck
(license plate 34 FMF 44) driven by Serdar D. (35).

In their testimony, the two Turks told the Jandarma
that they were trying to take the foreigners out of the
country in return for money.

The two guides were detained and foreigners were taken
to the Passport and Foreigners Department of the Edirne
Police for deportation. END TEXT.

11. (U) Published December 29, 2004 by the semi-official
Turkish language Anatolian News Agency:

BEGIN TEXT: Jandarma and police patrols captured 36
foreigners in the Bosna village of Uzunkopru, Edirne.

They were taken to the Edirne Police Foreigners and
Passport Department for deportation.
Foreigners who were trying to cross the border
illegally included 16 Iraqis, six Algerians, four
Pakistanis, three Palestinians, three Mauritanians,
three Somalians and one Indian. END TEXT.

EDELMAN