TIP in Turkey: Media Attention from June 1 to 30, 2006

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 004455 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 SUBJECT: TIP in Turkey: Media Attention from June 1 to 30, 2006 1.(U) Summary: During the four-week reporting period, the Turkish media continued frequently to cover stories about trafficking in persons, including Turkish National Police (TNP) and jandarma operations, human interest tales, a major new project and a prime-time investigative journalism piece. End Summary -------------- Police Operations -------------- 2.(U) Media reported on several police actions related to prostitution and possible trafficking, including: -- "Hurriyet" on June 13 reported that the Istanbul police raided a house in the neighborhood of Eminonu for prostitution. Moldovan Olessa Manea (19) said that she was going to sell her eggs. Manea, Mehmet Ataman and Natalie Prodan were sent to court. Experts said that eggs, preferably from pretty women, were sold for $100,000-250,000 to infertile women. -- The Istanbul Morals Police raided an apartment in the neighborhood of Findikzade and detained 13 people, including nine men and four women. While four foreign women were detained, the men were released after the police obtained their identities. The three Turkmenistan and one Georgian detainees were sent to a hospital for a check up. The police notified three of the men captured during the raid that they should immediately go to be checked for HIV. The four women will be deported after testifying to the police. -- Anatolian News Agency reported on June 13 that the Antalya police raided a house and saved two sisters who were allegedly forced into prostitution for one week. One of the clients who came to their house later called the Antalya police and told them that two young women were kept by force in a house. During the operation, police saved Moldavian sisters O.R. (22) and M.R. (23). M.O., who allegedly forced the sisters into prostitution, too, was captured. In her testimony, M.R. said that M.O. promised to marry her in Antalya last week and her sister accompanied her with hopes of finding a job. M.O. forced them into prostitution. -- "Sabah" on June 14 reported that the police raided the "Hotel Parlar" in Igdir and detained the manager of the hotel and an Azeri woman who was caught as she was working as a prostitute. The hotel was next to the Governor's office and employees of the Governor reportedly saw naked women in the hotel windows when they looked out. Governor Halil Ibrahim Ulusoy said that the biggest problem of the province was the increase in the number of prostitution incidents. He added that their fight against illegal prostitution would continue. -- Anatolian News Agency on June 15 reported that police in Elazig, Trabzon and Igdir (northeastern Turkey) carried out an operation simultaneously to crack down on a 12-member network that was bringing women from abroad and forcing them into prostitution. As a result of two months of surveillance, the police carried out the operation and detained the following gang members: A.B. (Azeri woman who was the gang leader; She had earlier served a prison term for human trafficking),S.O., H.T., H.A., S.O., H.C., D.S. and R.B. They found three victims. Four more suspects were detained in Trabzon and Igdir. The police also seized a house worth 100,000 YTL in Elazig and three cars. One of the suspects captured in Trabzon owns a hotel and another hotel in Elazig was used for prostitution. After the police interrogated them, the suspects were later sent before a judge. -- "Hurriyet" on June 20, 2006, reported that the Jandarma carried out an operation on bars, hotels and night clubs in and around Yalova and detained 32 foreign women and four people who forced them into prostitution. Five of the women earlier had won Turkish citizenship. Twenty-seven women from Ukraine, Romania and Moldavia were turned over to the foreigners police to be deported because their visas were expired. -- "Milliyet" on June 22 reported that after a foreign woman applied to the Sirinyer Police Station in Izmir, the police detained 19 people who were forcing foreign women into prostitution. They also detained four policemen for assisting the gang. The policemen later were released pending trial. In the same report, the daily also referred to different operation in the Izmir and Manisa area during which ten traffickers were detained. They were luring Russian women to Turkey by offering them jobs, such as work as a nanny. Erkan A., the ring leader, six other Turks and three foreign women were detained. The seven Turks reportedly tortured the foreign women in order to convince them to serve as prostitutes. -- "Hurriyet" webpage on June 26 reported that the Erzurum Police raided some hotels in the city center and captured 25 foreign women and three people who were organizing them into prostitution. The 25 women, who were reportedly working as nurses and teachers in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Ukraine and Russia, were turned over to the Foreigner's Police to be deported after their medical check up. They admitted that they came to Turkey to earn more money but found themselves in prostitution. They said, "We could not earn in our country in one month what we are earning here in one day. The Turkish men are very affectionate. Even if you show us the door, we will find a way to come back. We all have children that we need to take care of. If we don't do this, we will starve." The police detained O.A (23),H.K. (26) and A.B. (36) for facilitating prostitution. The court ordered their formal arrest and sent them to jail. -------------- One Woman's Story -------------- ¶3. (U) "Hurriyet" on June 11 reported that Maria Alexandra (19),a Moldovan citizen, was found injured in the garden of an apartment at Beylukduzu district of Istanbul. Initially, she said that her boyfriend pushed her from a 6th floor balcony but later admitted that she jumped off when forced into prostitution. Maria arrived in Istanbul four months ago upon her boyfriend Dimitru Tcoccive's promise that he could find her a job as a nanny in Turkey. She did not hesitate and they began to live together in an apartment in Aksaray. Her boyfriend told her on June 6 that he found a job for her with Emilia Kotorobai, an 8.5 months pregnant woman who lived at Beylikduzu with her two children. Around 19:30 locals heard Maria's scream as she fell. Her hip and legs were broken. After being operated on, she testified to the Jandarma. She claimed that as they quarreled with her boyfriend, he pushed her. But in her second testimony, Maria said that her boyfriend sold her to Emilia for $2000. When she said that Maria now should be with men and earn money, she jumped off the balcony. Her boyfriend fled. Emilia, who was accused of restricting liberties/freedom and forced prostitution, was arrested by an Istanbul court. -------------- New Project -------------- ¶4. (U) "Sabah" on June 16 reported that the "Blue Crescent Humanitarian Assistance and Development Foundation," along with the U.S. Catholic Relief Organization in the United States will begin a project to "Prevent Trafficking in Women" in eight source countries this September. The joint project with the U.S. Catholic Relief Organization has a $3m budget. The coordinators are cooperating with the MFA and the Interior Ministry. Muzaffer Baca, Vice Chairman of the Blue Crescent Foundation, said that they were talking to governments and, in particular, the education ministries of each country. Baca said that, according to studies in Turkey, there were around 200 gangs and women were trafficked mostly from Ukraine and Moldova. -------------- Investigative Journalism -------------- ¶5. (U) "A TV," one of the major private TV stations of Turkey, during its main evening news hour at 19:30 hrs on June 28, referred to another TV program on Moldovan girls used as sex slaves. The reporter went to two apartments where such women were offered and, hiding his true identity, pretended to be a client. The trafficker charged him 70 YTL (approximately $50) per session. When the reporter went inside, he chatted with the Moldovan girl, who said that she was lured into Turkey by another job offer. The reporter also visited another apartment where the trafficker was selling a Moldovan woman for $2500 and bragging that she was born only in ¶1986. After his visits to both sites, the reporter tipped off the police who raided both apartments. The first trafficker and his wife were detained. The fate of the trafficker in the second house was not clear. MCELDOWNEY