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

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 11 ANKARA 004149

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, July 1-15,
2005


1. 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. Published by Sabah on Friday, July 1:

TITLE: COMLEKCI, A BASE FOR PROSTITUTION

BEGIN TEXT: Prostitutes, who established a major
prostitution market in Turkey following the dissolution
of the Soviet Union, are using the Comlekci district of
Trabzon as their base. These women, most of whom
entered the country through Trabzon, gather at the
hotels in Comlekci. Women, who are bought and sold as
a commodity, go to the other parts of Turkey from here.
In other words, trillions of TL exchange hands
overnight in Comlekci where both wholesale and retail
are available.

The overnight charge in general $100. Each woman to be
sent to other places such as Istanbul, Izmir, Antalya,
Bodrum and Marmaris are sold for the season for about
$15,000-20,000. Some people buy five or six
prostitutes and make them work for the season.
Passports of many of the prostitutes, who are brought
to Turkey jointly by Turkish and Russian Mafia, are
taken away in order to prevent them from escaping.

It was stated that approximately ten hotels which were
shut down for prostitution re-opened with new names.
Sixteen major operations were carried out in the
district since 1998.

Before prostitutes arrived, there were six hotels in
Comlekci. Today there are 37. The number of
restaurants increased from four to 45. There is a
cafeteria almost at every corner. Many murders took
place over women in Comlekci, one of the oldest
residential areas in the town.

An official from the U.S. Embassy who visited Trabzon
two years ago carried out research in the province and
went to Comlekci and showed Turkey as a Third World
country involved in women trafficking.

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1988,
thousands of women with higher education but unemployed
poured into the Black Sea region through the Sarp
Border Gate. Women tried to earn a living initially by
selling the goods they brought at the Russian Bazaar.
They even brought tank tracks. After a short while, in
line with the demands of regional people, they changed
sectors and moved on to prostitution. From that moment
on they assumed the name "Natasha." These women were
earning a lot of money in return for love in Turkey.
They received money (in Turkey) for love they were
giving freely in their own country. Soon the Mafia
noticed the money involved. The prostitution sector
boomed fast when Turkish and Russian organized crime
gangs began to act together.

Foreign prostitutes eventually were totally under the
control of the Turkish and Russian Mafia that takes
care of the women it employs.

A couple of ways are used for bringing these women to
Turkey. Women mostly are brought through joint works
by the Turkish and Russian Mafia. The Russian wing of
the underground sends women via highway, air or sea.
As soon as they arrive, they are met by the Turkish
wing of the Mafia. Gangs take women under their own
protection and don't allow them to work by themselves.
Also Turkish gangs bring women under the guise of
serving a waitress, salesperson, nanny and then take
away their passports and force them to work.

Most of these women come to Trabzon and use Comlekci as
a base, one of the oldest districts of the town. They
are placed in hotels in Comlekci and marketed either in
wholesale or retail. In this district with 20,000
residents, trillions of TL exchange hands overnight.
There were only 20 small businessmen until 1998 in this
district. Today there are hundreds of small
businessmen mostly serving the prostitution sector.

When prostitutes began to arrive in 1989, the number of
hotels was only six. Now in the same district there
are 37 hotels. The number of restaurants went up to 15
from four and there are 30 places serving meatballs.
There are also dozens of cafes in the district that
have turned into places where these women are marketed.
They charge at least $100 per night and prostitutes in
sexy clothes show themselves off to clients at those
cafes. It was reported that ten hotels that were
closed because of prostitution re-opened under new
names. There have been 16 major operations in the
district since 1998.

There are people traveling from very distant places in
order to be with these prostitutes. These clients are
ready to spend a lot of money. They go and sit at a
table at one of those cafes. They look around to pick
one of the pretty women sitting around. Later they
invite the woman they pick to their table. Alcohol is
not served at these cafes. Clients can order tea or
soft drinks but a soft drink that normally will cost 1
m, is sold for 30 m TL.

At the table they first order a soft drink. Women
charge around $100 per night. If the man agrees to pay
this amount, he pays the money to the woman there and
they leave together. But the night is not over unless
the woman is served a meal at a restaurant before going
to a hotel. Later she asks him to take her to a bar or
a disco. Finally they end up at a hotel.

Tomorrow: Rich Turks lock up women in their private
houses (for this purpose). When they are bored they
replace her. Some women, in order to work, enter into
fake marriages. TNP report: Security forces, too, are
involved. END TEXT.


3. The following was also in the Friday July 1 edition of
Sabah:

TITLE: THEIR STORIES ARE ALL THE SAME

BEGIN TEXT: We were at a night club where women are
sold in Aksaray. As I sat at a table with a friend,
our table was filled with food. Later tall and blonde
women who looked somewhere between 17 and 25 walked in.
From that point on the bargaining began.

I learned about the meaning of this ceremony after
talking to a friend who is experienced with Aksaray.
He said, "You go to the woman you like and ask her the
price. It is approximately $100. If you find it
expensive, you sit down and go back to her after ten
minutes to ask for a price again. In general women
won't bring down the price. So every ten minutes you
go back and check the price again. That is why you see
a lot of people moving between the tables and on the
dancing floor."

During my research I witnessed that this bargaining
begins in dollars and end up in YTL. Late that night I
learned that a man with a moustache and who has a
textile plant in Ikitelli, could bring down $100 price
only to 100 YTL, certainly excluding the 70 YTL hotel
fee.

After watching women dancing in very short skirts in an
inviting fashion I approached one. My intention was to
invite her to the table and listen to her story. As
soon as Moldavian Mirabella came to my table and began
to talk in broken Turkish, waiters brought her Malibu.
I thought Malibu was a bar in Aksaray. Mirabella told
me her sad story with her Turkish. "I was studying
biology at the state university in Moldova. After
graduating I could not find a job. I came to Turkey to
serve as a nanny. Finally I ended up doing this job.
My father was a teacher. Turkey is very beautiful."

When I asked, "How do you work?" she got bored and
said, "$100." So I responded, "Too expensive, 70 YTL?"
I asked for the bill. The bill brought in a dark cover
was 290 YTL. I asked the waiter what was this all
about and he said, "We accept credit cards." I learned
about the meaning of these remarks during my early
research. "Don't object to the bill. If you are
coming here you must have either cash or a credit card.
Or else, we will take you to the guest house."

What is a guest house? Erdal T. who saw a guest house
explained, "I took a friend out for entertainment. We
had two glasses of raki. There were some appetizers.
The bill was 1.4 billion TL. I objected and the waiter
told me that they accepted a credit card. When I
objected again, bodyguards came from the gate. They
took us to a guest house. When the man behind a desk
cursed, a waiter began to kick me. They took away my
credit card, along with a chain and bracelet that my
mother gave me as a gift. They constantly kicked my
legs. Later I called a friend and paid 900 YTL. I got
back my mother's gift but after my friend brought me
money."

Tomorrow: What does a buffer zone mean? END TEXT.


4. Also in Friday, July 1st edition of Sabah:

TITLE: SHE WAS PUT IN A HOUSE AND TORTURED

BEGIN TEXT: Scary data by IOM on human trafficking in
Turkey confirm the New York Times article last week.

According to IOM, 50 percent of women who are deceived
and brought to Turkey from Russia and the CIS are
between 19 and 25. There have been 62 international
abduction cases last year and that figure is 97 this
year. These figures include those whose passports are
taken away and who are forced to work and not those who
come to Turkey and voluntarily work as prostitutes.
Most of these women come from Ukraine, Moldova,
Uzbekistan and Russia. About 40 percent of them are
forced to work in Istanbul and the rest in provinces
such as Antalya and Ankara.

Many of them are locked up in houses. For those women
who are afraid to go to the police the way out is
suicide. They end up either being paralyzed or die.
The most striking example to this is a 17-year-old
Ukrainian who jumped from the apartment she was locked
up in last year. She remains paralyzed for life. IOM
is taking care of her.

STORIES OF WOMEN WHO CALLED 157 AND WHO ARE SAVED AND
REPATRIATED:

STORY NUMBER 1: Moldovan Ms X, who has three kids,
accepted to go to work in Turkey when she could not
make a living for her family. She found herself in a
village house in Antalya. Her passport was taken away.
When she resisted, she was beaten and a gun was put to
her head. She was not allowed to leave the house and
she began to have sex for money. When one day she was
taken to a hotel to a client, she dialed the number she
noticed in Moldova. Those who answered directed her to
the 157 hotline in Turkey. The operator called 155 in
Antalya and she was saved. After staying at the
shelter in Istanbul for a while, she was sent back to
her country.

STORY NUMBER 2: Romanian cook Ms Y could not make ends
meet. She signed a contract to work at a casino in
Turkey. She was asked to work in the prostitution
sector. Even the cigarette she smoked were charged as
debt. She was not allowed to return home. When she
had gone to the Turkish Embassy for a visa, she called
Hotline 157 that she saw at the airport. Along with Y,
eight girls were saved. But the others, except Y, did
not want to go back without money and they did not file
a complaint because they were afraid. Y returned to
her country after staying at the shelter in Istanbul.

TOMORROW: Mission Impossible END TEXT.


5. The last article published in Sabah on Friday, July 1:

TITLE: The Purpose Is to Help Victims

BEGIN TEXT: Iskender Okyay, head of the MFA Consular
Department explained the goal of the 157 Hotline as,
"Women who are brought to Turkey by deceit and forced
to work are victims. Our goal is to help those who are
victims. Those who work in this sector are seen as
criminals. But they might be victimized."

Okyay explained that NGOs are trained to work with the
police and Jandarma. He added that responsibility lies
on all units. END TEXT.


6. Published by Tercuman on Friday, July 1:

TITLE: You're a Natasha - Emin Pazarci

BEGIN TEXT: Four young girls who are members of a
Russian music group spent a vacation in Turkey and when
they went back to their country wrote a song.

The name of the song is "You're a Natasha."

This song became very popular and turned the Russian
music market upside down.

The song ridicules the Natasha market in Turkey, as
well as the Turkish men who pursue Russian women and
the mentality that regards Russians as Natashas.

They are not wrong. The UN report says, "Forty percent
of women abducted for prostitution are employed in
Istanbul and 16 percent in Antalya and Ankara."

Add to this ours (Turkish prostitutes) and imagine?

Yesterday there was a piece in "Sabah." The
prostitution sector in Istanbul was under scrutiny.
Pictures of prostitution next to the Fatih Police
Station were published.

Certainly this is only one of the examples.

This is the case in Istanbul but is it any different in
other towns?

Certainly not. Turkey has turned into an open market
for women. Similar pictures are seen in the capital
Ankara 100 meters from the parliament. Bargaining goes
on the streets for women.

Turkey has turned into an open prostitution market.
Open prostitution markets operate under the guise of a
bar. You enter and make a bargain with the person you
like. If you reach an agreement, you take her and go.

Massage parlors are booming in the neighborhood. But
these are actually prostitution operations.

What is worse is that police cars are waiting in front
of these woman markets at nighttime. All bargaining
takes place in front of the eyes of policemen.

In the past such things were done secretly. Now
everything is permitted. Those who market women no
longer hide themselves. They are proudly walking
around. They will almost brag saying that they are
earning a living by serving as a pimp.

Now hold on to your seats. A few days ago we
encountered an incredible incident next to the Ankara
bureau of "Tercuman." Obviously things were not going
well at those bars that market women. The owners
brought a ram. They slaughtered it in front of the
building to increase their income and for the market to
grow. And that is not all. They put the blood of the
sacrifice on the poster of a woman working at that bar.
Maybe they also prayed, "God, may you increase the
money we earn from prostitution. Let's sell more women
and let's earn more money."

This is the point we have reached in the prostitution
market. It is grave. Values have been eroded so much
and they are so mixed up now.

There are now those in this country who beg God to let
them earn money from a sacrilegious thing and from
being immoral.
If things go like this I know what will happen. The UN
will prepare new reports. In those reports we won't be
referred as one of the countries that employ abducted
women only. We will also break a record in venereal
disease. For example, we will earn the title of having
the most AIDS patients because there are no measures
taken.

Nobody is bothered much about the erosion of values and
this human drama that are experienced in Turkey. END
TEXT.


7. Published by Sabah on Saturday, July 2:

TITLE: AKSARAY: BUFFER ZONE

BEGIN TEXT: I went on a tour in Aksaray one night. It
has an interesting atmosphere with its blinking lights,
although not like Las Vegas. Whoever goes to Aksaray
for entertainment pays a hefty bill but they are stingy
when it comes to tipping. That was what I did as well
after paying the 290 m TL bill. I moved to Rosya who
was draped in a vine leaf.

The atmosphere was like the movie "Feride" of Emel
Sayin. The number of foreign women was double the
number of men. As soon as I sat at a table, I noticed
that eight women were smiling at me.

I began to tour the streets. The pimps in Aksaray are
all wearing pants and a shirt. Even if one goes to
ISKI to pay a water bill, these pimps may approach them
asking, "Do you need a place, brother?" Or they ask,
"Do you want entertainment?" They check whether
clients are interested in 15-year old Romanians or
Bulgarians. Those who may respond that they were going
to pay a bill at ISKI, they insist, "But when I say
girls, I don't mean street walkers. I mean virgins."

In Aksaray around midnight an open woman market
operates in the middle of the street which is 30 meters
to the police station. It is the borderline between
Eminonu and Fatih, the most populated sub-provinces.
Police units have a dispute over who are in charge of
this particular street. Street walkers reportedly
cross the street and from the other side wave at the
police when law enforcement officers from one of the
two sub-provinces arrive at the site. This street
looks like a buffer zone under the control of the UN.
The only missing thing is the UN patrol/police.


8. Published by Sabah on Saturday, July 2:

TITLE: $100 PER NIGHT AND $20,000 PER SEASON

BEGIN TEXT: In the Comlekci district of Trabzon women
are sold for the night or for the season. Clients from
various parts of Turkey and particularly from Istanbul,
Izmir, Antalya, Bodrum and Marmaris, buy the women they
like along with their passports for the season. They
sometimes buy five or six together wholesale and take
these women to their region and make them work until
their time is up.

Some of these women are presented as room service at
luxurious hotels. Some of them are kept in special
apartments rented for entertainment by rich residents
of Trabzon. When the client gets bored, he replaces
her with another.

Prostitution rings resort to fake marriages in order to
make these women work. They marry them to deranged or
very old and even sometimes deceased people in order to
make these women obtain Turkish citizenship.

Gultekin Yucesan, Human Rights Association Trabzon
branch president, said that an officer from the U.S.
Embassy arrived in the region two years ago and toured
Trabzon and Rize. He noted that she reported to the
U.S. Embassy that Turkey was a 3rd world country that
sells women. Yucesan noted that these women, whose
passports and money are taken away, have begun to apply
to the police against the type of uncivilized treatment
that they have been subject to. He said, "The U.S.
always sent officials to Trabzon to study this issue."

There have been some incidents where the names of
gendarmerie and high-level police officers were
involved in some bribery incidents in Trabzon which is
a center for prostitution. A colonel and a TNP
official were sacked and prosecuted for bribery. END
TEXT.


9. Published by Sabah on Saturday, July 2:

TITLE: NO DIFFERENT THAN A SECRET SERVICE

BEGIN TEXT: For the first time in the world a hotline
was established in order to save women who are forced
into prostitution in Turkey. This toll free 157 line
is operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can
be called from anywhere in Turkey. Professionals from
IOM who speak Russian, Romanian, English and Turkish
answer the phone. They are showing a way out to
victimized women who are afraid to go to the police.

The hotline operators inform the police and gendarmerie
about women whose lives are at risk. Organized crime
gangs that are losing money for every woman they lose
have been calling the hotline and making threats.
Identities and locations of operators who receive death
threats are kept secret. Operators keep their
profession as well as their taped conversation with
callers a secret. Women who are saved are accompanied
to a plane by IOM and they are met by NGOs in their
country. They are returned to their families. END
TEXT.


10. Published by The Journal of Turkish Weekly on Sunday,
July 3:

TITLE: US: Armenian State Supports Trafficking

BEGIN TEXT: US State secretary chief advisor, head of
the Human Trafficking Combat and Monitoring office,
Ambassador John Miller said that Armenia is a source
country from where women and girls are trafficked
mainly to the Middle Eastern countries including
Turkey. According to Mr. Miller, the basis of the
office report were the calculations of the UN according
to which in the Arabian states and Turkey there are
about 1000 Armenian prostitutes. The majority of them
are victims of trafficking. On the other hand, the
calculations of the Armenian Investigating Journalists
Association President Edik Baghdasaryan, the number of
Armenian prostitutes is more than 5,000 in the region.
Mr. Miller was greatly surprised by the facts and
demanded proof on what was said.

According to the report of the US State secretary chief
advisor "The Republic of Armenia Government did not
represent sufficient proof that the efforts directed to
the combat against trafficking have been enhanced. The
Government has not carried out investigation of the
Prosecution which was accused of supporting the
traffickers. The Prosecution bodies have supported
those organizing trafficking, and the border-guards,
taking bribes, have secured the free transportation
abroad."

Stating that the RA Government does not fully
correspond to the criteria combating trafficking, Mr.
Miller mentioned that in our country the punishments
for this kind of deeds are too mild. END TEXT.


11. Reported by Vatan on Sunday, July 3:

TITLE: Prostitution Operation in Aksaray and Laleli;
170 Women Arrested

BEGIN TEXT: Istanbul Fatih Security Directorate teams
raided Aksaray and Laleli bars and disco-type
entertainment areas, especially at late-night hours,
looking for foreign women without passports, visas or
those practicing prostitution. One hundred seventy
foreign women were arrested during the operation.
Moldovan, Russian, Ukrainian and Azeri women were taken
to the hospital with buses from the Cevik Kuvvet
station. There were reports that prostitution was
rampant in Aksaray and Laleli in the operation's last
days. It was learned that most of the women did not
have visas. END TEXT.


12. Written by Fatih Altayli and published in Hurriyet on
Saturday, July 2:

TITLE: Can Woman Trade be a Tourism Aspect?

BEGIN TEXT: I received hundreds of faxes, e-mail and
telephone messages following my piece on the Russian
women trade-Mafia involvement in Turkey. The most
interesting was a telephone call by a businessman. I'm
conveying to you exactly what he told me:

"Fatih bey, I do not agree with what you wrote. This
business is affecting positively the tourism potential
of Turkey and Istanbul in particular. I would like to
share with you what I experienced."

"Recently one of my clients visited me from abroad. I
gave him a tour and hosted him at very chic places in
Istanbul. As I was dropping him off at his hotel, in
the evening, he asked me whether I could find him a
girlfriend. Since I knew nothing on this issue, I
called a friend who was familiar with it. He gave me
the address of a Club Bacardi in Aksaray. We went
there. We looked for it for quite some time, but we
could not find it. Finally we asked some policemen.
They showed us. We went. It was similar to a famous
night club in Moscow. There were hundreds of women
inside, each having a different look. We talked to an
official there. My client reached an agreement with
one of the women brought to him. He took her to his
hotel."

"The next day he was very happy. He said that he would
come to Istanbul more often and that in one of the
European countries he saw such service. Indeed there
were a lot of tourists at the Club Bacardi."

"This situation reminded me of Amsterdam. There, there
is an area called the Red Light District. This is the
biggest tourism center of Amsterdam. Even in the guide
books on Amsterdam, this district is praised. There,
too, Russian women are in majority. When this is
happening in the center of Europe and in its most
modern city, what do you want from Istanbul and
Antalya? On the contrary, you can use this as a
promotion element and an attraction center."

Esteemed readers, I wanted to convey to you this
different point of view.

Do you agree? END TEXT.


13. Published by Vatan on Thursday, July 7:

TITLE: Mysterious campaign against prostitution in
Igdir

BEGIN TEXT: An interesting campaign against
prostitution has started in Igdir. Posters with "No to
Prostitution" and "Don't cry, take claim of your wife"
were posted on electric poles on governorship roads.
Despite all the investigation, it is still not known
who prepared and hung the posters which picture a
crying woman. END TEXT.


14. Published by The New Anatolian on Thursday, July 7:

TITLE: Gendarmerie steps up anti-trafficking efforts

BEGIN TEXT: To fight human trafficking, Gendarmerie
Command deploying special teams in 23 cities

Turkey's Gendarmerie Command has stepped up its efforts
to halt human trafficking by deploying special teams in
23 cities, in the face of a recent rise in the crime.
According to official sources, the Gendarmerie Command
has conducted a wide-ranging study on human trafficking
in Turkey. Its findings were published in the brochure
"Fighting Human Trafficking." A total of 150,000
brochures were printed, with 50,000 in both Russian and
Turkish. The contents of the study are broken down
into the following categories:

- An overview of the crime
- The fate of its victims
- How to escape
- How to spot a human trafficking victim
- Warnings for potential victims
- How to contact the gendarmerie

Focus on 23 cities

The gendarmerie focused its efforts on 23 cities where
evidence of human trafficking has recently risen.
According to the gendarmerie report, the cities under
the microscope are as follows: Istanbul, Ankara,
Antalya, Aydin, Izmir, Mugla, Adana, Mersin, Gaziantep,
Artvinl, Ardahan, Kars, Igdir, Trabzon, Giresun, Rize,
Ordu, Samsun, Balikesir, Yalova, Diyarbakir, Van and
Elazig.

The gendarmerie sent out special teams, in
collaboration with several nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs),to fight the trafficking. The
collaborative efforts resulted in five seminars held in
Rize, Adana, Istanbul and Antalya, which also included
the participation of Turkish representatives from the
International Refugee Organization (IRO). At these
seminars nearly 200 personnel were trained for the
difficult task of recognizing and fighting human
trafficking, while doing whatever possible to help the
victims.

Victims and traffickers

Here is the number of people, both trafficker and
trafficked, and their countries of origin, that the
gendarmerie intercepted during the September 2003-
December 2004 period:

Victims by country of origin

Moldova (66),Turkey (27),Ukraine (21),Russia (10),
Azerbaijan (8),Romania (1),Uzbekistan (8),Kyrgyzstan
(2),Autonomous Russian Republic of Dagestan (2),
Belarus (1),Turkmenistan (1),and Armenia (1).

Traffickers by country of origin

Turkey (119),Azerbaijan (8),and Russia (1).

Intervention in 42 incidents

A statement from the Gendarmerie Command General
Secretariat urged states in the region to acknowledge
that "human trafficking has recently begun to threaten
individuals, societies and whole states." Not only
Turkey, but the whole world has a role to play,
especially in trafficking done on account of
prostitution, it said.

"As our country borders and lies near countries used as
resources centers for human trafficking, it frequently
faces charges of being the target country for human
trafficking," the general secretariat said. The
gendarmerie stresses the importance of fighting this
crime, and said that it has intervened in 42 human
trafficking incidents between September 2003 and
December 2004. It reported that a total of 148 victims
were saved from the hands of traffickers, and 128
suspects were arrested. END TEXT.


15. Published by Milliyet on Thursday, July 7:

TITLE: Russians Brought Prostitution

BEGIN TEXT: In an Istanbul guide book distributed to
architects by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality,
it was claimed that Russian women fleeing the Bolshevik
Revolution offended the morals of the city.
The "Istanbul City Guide," prepared by the Metropolitan
Municipality of Istanbul and distributed to the
architects at the 22nd World Architects Convention,
accused Russian women fleeing the Bolshevik Revolution
of offending the morals of the city.

The guide did not refer to the Republican reforms. It
stated, "Ladies in Istanbul liked the clothing of
Russian women who fled the Bolshevik Revolution and
emigrated to Istanbul and they became the fashion. The
people of Istanbul, pioneered by Russian immigrants,
for the first time went to the shore and swam."

In the chapter entitled "Enemy Occupation and Truce,"
on pages 43 and 46, the lifestyle of women during the
occupation years was described as, "during occupation
the public and youngsters participated in
demonstrations in Istanbul. Aside from demonstrations,
another important development was the establishment of
some secret services that were working for
independence. Some of them were "Karakol Birligi, Mim
Grubu, Mudafa-i-Milliye." Back in those years people
in Istanbul were constantly moving. They were leaving
occupied Istanbul and moving to places in Anatolia not
under occupation. Meanwhile, Russians fleeing the
Bolshevik Revolution were moving to Istanbul. They had
a major impact on Istanbul and its people.

Istanbul ladies liked the clothing of Russian women
very much and because a fashion. The people of
Istanbul, pioneered by Russians, for the first time
went to the shore to swim. During this period,
Istanbul's nightlife because livelier, despite the
occupation. There was great interest in concerts at
cafes, theatre troupes and movies. Bars and pastry
shops were introduced to Istanbul as alternatives to
taverns. All these brought along a moral collapse.
Prostitution by Russian women working at these places
began to take over the city.

Milliyet's front-page story yesterday titled "Strange
Guide Book by Municipality" resonated. The Istanbul
Metropolitan Municipality did not make an announcement
on the issue.

Oktay Ekinci, Chairman of the Union of Turkish
Architects and Engineer Chambers, said, "This is very
good reporting. We learned about this when we read
Milliyet."

Ekinci added that the official host of the Convention
was the Chamber of Architects and that the Metropolitan
Municipality was supporting the event as the
municipality of the host city. He added, "I do not
believe that Kadir Topbas deliberately distributed this
guide book to achieve a political goal. Probably some
people in the Municipality wanted to take advantage of
the convention and give such a message to world
architects. It is very wrong to blacken the Republican
regime when the regime enabled us to be together with
the world."

The CHP, too, reacted to the guidebook. Nigde Deputy
Orhan Eraslan said, "Their real intention is apparent.
They demonstrated that they are against the Republic."

Ankara Deputy Muzaffer Kurtulmusoglu added, "One can
understand the mentality of the May or when he told
foreigners that it would be better if there were a
caliphate."

Istanbul Deputy Kemal Kilicdaroglu said, "All these
indicate the path that the AKP wants to drag Turkey
into."

Dursun Atilgan, Chairman of the Ataturkist Thought
Association Federation said, "The Metropolitan
Municipality demonstrated that it was against the
Republican regime."

One of the two editors of the guidebook was Ibrahim
Uslu, husband of AKP Istanbul Deputy Zeynep Karahan
Uslu and ANAR polling company director general. Uslu
answered our questions:

--Did you prepare the guidebook?
--It was prepared as a CD in 1995 for Habitat (for
Humanity). It was distributed to delegates who came to
Istanbul for the Habitat Conference. Later it was
turned into a book.

--An updated copy of the book was distributed at the
Architect's Conference. Were you aware of this fact?
--I was not aware of it. The project ended for us in

1996.

--Is it correct to introduce the St. Sophia Museum as a
mosque to foreign architects at a major conference?
--St. Sophia as a mosque and building is important from
an architectural point of view. But on the CD it was
also listed in the museum section as well. I cannot
say anything about the book version.

--Where did you get this information for the book?
--I did not write some of the articles. I need to
check the old files.

--There was no reference to the War of Independence and
Ataturk.
--In the history of Istanbul, the city was not
liberated from the enemy occupation by Turkish armies.
We did not fight against the British.

--Didn't the British evacuate the town because of the
success of the War of Independence?
--Certainly.

COMMENTS ON THE ARTICLE

Norge: Somebody should say "Stop" to this government
and its followers who keep coming up with a meaningless
anti-Russian (attitude). The biggest contribution to
Turkish tourism comes from more than one million
Russian tourists. How can our Tourism Minister, who
does not know what he's talking about, and the Istanbul
Municipality, which doesn't know itself, make such
mistakes? It is also not true. Prostitution has long
existed (in Istanbul).

Garibistan Vatandasi: In the 1950s we talked about a
famous brothel owner of those days. In the 1960s we
talked about actresses not becoming famous unless they
entered the bedrooms of directors. IN the 1970s the
brothels and gambling dens. Many things happened to
ignored girls who wanted to be movie stars. In 1980
the prostitution sector bosses became champion
taxpayers. You forget all this and put the blame on
Russians as the magnificent and sleeping Tourism
Minister put it. Uggghhhh.

Uhorizon: There was prostitution definitely before the
Russians arrived. Those who claimed that there was no
prostitution must be ignorant about history. If one
reads a bit of history, one will learn this. One will
be surprised with what one learns.

Ahlak: I know what you are trying to do. Leave the
Government (of Turkey) alone. What is the point of
making things this ugly? This is blackening Islam.
Your intentions are clear. These people are enemies of
the state. This is only a ploy by those who are
jealous of the current administration.

Orion2002: 1. What is the connection between Russian
women and Municipality's architects chamber meeting?
If there was going to be a brochure published, it
should have been on architecture. 2. With the coming
of Russian women, a movement began in fields such as
movies, theatre and art. Do they mean that art hurts
the morals of the public? 3. Recently anti-Semitic
publications and rhetoric hurt the country a lot. Now
the same thing is done against Russians. When will we
not care about this indiscreetness? Doesn't the Mayor
check what was written?

Uygar koc: Correct. We say that a person who tells
the truth is not welcomed anywhere. Unfortunately what
was written in the guidebook is correct. There is no
need to be angry for the truth in the guidebook. You
cannot hide it.

Ayhan Ersoy: How easy is it to slander somebody? I'm
not in the position to defend the Russians, but as long
as Turkish men cannot control themselves, does it
really matter who spreads prostitution whether it's
Russian women or women who belong to other nations?
Obviously these women are not raping the men! END
TEXT.


16. Reported by Vatan on Friday, July 8:

TITLE: 3,000 Children are Sold Each Day

BEGIN TEXT: UNICEF announced that 3,000 children are
sold and forced into prostitution each day around the
world.

The victims are from poverty-stricken countries like
eastern European Moldova. UNICEF representative
Kirsten Leyendecker said in response to those people
from western countries who pay children to enter into
relations with them, "Those who have sexual relations
with children and `sex tourists' should be heavily
punished." According to research on the German-Czech
Republic border, one in every seven children is
approached with an offer for sex for money, but that
these offering people are not punished." END TEXT.
MCELDOWNEY