TIP IN TURKEY: PERSPECTIVES FROM A MAJOR HUB,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 005803 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/04/2021 TAGS: PREL PGOV TU SUBJECT: TIP IN TURKEY: PERSPECTIVES FROM A MAJOR HUB, TRABZON REF: A. 05 ANKARA 4276 ¶B. 05 ANKARA 4316 Classified by Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) ¶1. (C) Summary: Trabzon's location as a transportation hub on the Black Sea and proximity to countries such as Georgia and Russia make it a major hub for the trafficking of sex workers. Trabzon's leaders are making efforts to reduce the level of prostitution. The Chief Prosecutor is actively pursuing cases against traffickers. Trafficking victims are sometimes difficult to identify and assist, and better options for sheltering victims are needed. End Summary. -------------- Efforts to Lower the Prostitution Profile -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Emboffs traveled to Trabzon September 18-19 and spoke with a variety of government and non-government contacts. Trabzon has made visible efforts to lower the profile of prostitution in Trabzon for the last several years, according to several contacts. The municipality moved the busy Russian Bazaar from the infamous prostitution-ridden Comlekci district (ref B) to along the port, in part to reduce tourist traffic in one of the primary areas where prostitutes do business. (Note: Prostitution is legal in Turkey. End Note.) According to one taxi driver/informal guide, the Comlekci district is now home primarily to the less desirable prostitutes, while more high-class sex workers operate out of the public eye in known hotels and cafes nearer to the center of town. We walked through one such area one evening and witnessed only one probable prostitute out on the street. Several small hotels had one to three men loitering outside, likely pimps or touts for business to be conducted inside behind closed doors and shuttered windows. ¶3. (SBU) Sibel Suicmez and Umit Kaba, two women lawyers active on the local anti-trafficking campaign in Trabzon, said that the police and the municipality have recently started canceling permits for hotels known to harbor prostitution. Most of the traffickers are hotel owners, they believe. The level of prostitution has dropped for the last two to three years, they believe because prostitutes are moving to larger cities such as Istanbul or Antalya. -------------- Active Chief Prosecutor -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Although Chief Public Prosecutor Riza Can began his 
post only 10 days prior to our visit, it was apparent that he was already fully briefed on the trafficking issue in Trabzon and had a plan to effectively prosecute traffickers. Unlike some interlocutors who tend to confuse illegal prostitution, trafficking in persons and human smuggling, Can displayed a nuanced understanding of TIP. He reviewed more than 10 open cases, all of which related to sex trafficking. Can said he was concerned about how the primary anti-trafficking provision in the Turkish Penal Code (TPC),Article 80, is being applied by the Heavy Penal Court in Trabzon. The Heavy Penal Court is rejecting Article 80 cases in favor of other articles that the judges interpret as being more applicable, such as forced prostitution under Article 227. Can said that while using different articles other than Article 80 to prosecute traffickers can and does result in a similar degree of punishment, he believes the evidence more often warrants prosecution under Article 80. -------------- Trafficking Victims -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Trabzon police chief Resat Altay told us that a majority of foreign prostitutes and trafficked women enter Turkey legally, sometimes facilitated by organized networks or mediators. He said police have located victims primarily through police operations against illegal prostitution and ANKARA 00005803 002 OF 002 organized crime and through phone calls to 155 (the Turkish 911) from victims and sometimes clients. He said that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between a foreign prostitute and a trafficking victim because often women are reluctant to press charges or testify in court. ¶6. (SBU) The two women lawyers said that the economic situation in some source countries such as Belarus and Azerbaijan causes women to return to Turkey for prostitution even after they were deported from Turkey (usually for visa overstay, passport violations, health problems or other illegalities). Gangs entrap these women after arrival. They related one story of a client who was detained by Turkish police because she had returned to Turkey under a false name after being deported from Turkey. Kaba said her client had wanted to return to Turkey to work as a prostitute and had received assistance from an organized network, a representative of which met her at the border and took her to Trabzon. This time in Turkey, however, the client was kept against her will by the hotel owner/pimp and was even impregnated. Kaba said she helped explain to the judge and to her client that she was a victim of trafficking and not a criminal. -------------- Better Shelter Needed -------------- ¶7. (SBU) According to Police Chief Altay and the two lawyers, the Russian Consul had recently complained to Trabzon's human rights department about the conditions under which trafficked women and prostitutes awaiting deportation are housed and fed. Altay said the human rights department will make a determination on how to proceed and the police are ready to follow their guidelines. -------------- Comment -------------- ¶8. (SBU) The Chief Prosecutor's frustration about Article 80 prosecutions is shared by other prosecutors, government members of the national anti-trafficking task force and other activists such as the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The MFA has recently introduced to the Turkish parliament's justice committee language for a legislative fix. Others, such as the Director of Legislation at the Justice Ministry, echo the Chief Prosecutor's jurisprudence scenario. Given other parliamentary priorities such as reform legislation related to Turkey's EU accession bid and the snail's pace of the Turkish justice system, it will take some time for an effective solution to become clear. We are, however, encouraged by the seriousness with which the Trabzon law enforcement community and city officials are approaching the overarching problem of trafficking. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ WILSON