ANKARA NOMINATION: 2008 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR

UNCLAS ANKARA 002475 SIPDIS SECSTATE FOR G/IWI AND EUR SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO TU SUBJECT: ANKARA NOMINATION: 2008 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE (U) REF: A. STATE 037570 ¶B. STATE 23653 ¶C. STATE 12871 ¶D. STATE 126072 ¶1. (U) Personal Information: Full legal name of nominee - Rojbin Tugan Job title/Association - Lawyer Date of Birth - May 30, 1971 Country of Birth - Turkey Citizenship - Turkish Republic Address - Bulak Mahallesi, Cumhuriyet Cad., Tugan Apt. 3rd Floor, Hakkari Telephone - +90 (0438) 211-6963 Email - rtugan@yahoo.com and rtugan@hotmail.com, Passport number - TRK615258 ¶1. (U) Justification for Nomination: Rojbin Tugan has been an articulate and resourceful advocate for human rights and rule of law in Turkey for over a dozen years. In 1996, she became the first-ever female lawyer in Hakkari province, a remote mountainous area bordering Iraq and Iran that has suffered from extreme poverty and PKK violence. Ms Tugan has dedicated her career to the principle that government has a duty to ensure the security of its citizens and should be held accountable for doing so. Thousands of Turkish villagers in Hakkari and adjacent areas of Turkey were forced to evacuate their homes during periods of fierce fighting in the 1990s as Turkish security forces combated terrorists of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),a group whose violence has claimed over 30,000 lives and put it on the US and EU list of terrorist organizations. Ms Tugan is a staunch advocate for the rights of these villagers. She has represented people who served as pro-government village guards and those accused of PKK sympathies who seek to return to their native villages or otherwise restart their lives. In 2002, Ms Tugan represented a villager whose home and possessions were completely destroyed by the Turkish military during the evacuation. Despite numerous threats to herself and her client, she persisted with the case and won compensation - the first time a victim of such an incident had successfully sued the government. This landmark case has been affirmed by the Turkish Supreme Court and has become a precedent for scores of similar cases. Recognizing her leadership on the evacuation issue, the Hakkari provincial governor appointed Ms Tugan to a government panel dealing with the thorny question of compensation for displaced villagers. In the same way that she expanded the opportunities for legal redress for displaced villagers, Ms Tugan is also working to address the problem of PKK and government-planted landmines that kill or maim hundreds each year. In 2004, she established the Hakkari Anti-Landmine Awareness Campaign, which has educated local citizens about the dangers of landmines and led to a significant reduction in landmine incidents in the Hakkari area. The campaign organization also arranges for medical care, psychological counseling and prosthetics for landmine victims. Through direct lobbying and legal action in the courts, Ms Tugan is seeking compensation for mine victims and the initiation of a region-wide program in the schools to educate children in southeast Turkey about this continuing problem. Some Turkish authorities have been hostile to Ms Tugan's activism on these sensitive subjects. She has been detained several times by local security officials and on one occasion was rescued from harm by a local public prosecutor, who was subsequently dismissed. Credible sources report that Ms Tugan appears on hit lists of several ultra-national organizations. Ms Tugan accepts these risks stoically. In one interview she said, "while defending the rule of law I am vulnerable to unlawfulness." Ms Tugan's commitment to Turkey's most vulnerable citizens and the rule of law is making a difference in the lives of Turkish citizens and toward strengthening Turkish democracy. She is an inspiration to all people who are struggling to expand freedom in Turkey and throughout the world. ¶2. (U) Notification of Nomination: "Woman of Courage" nominee, Rojbin Tugan, was notified on 24 September, 2007, and agreed to be nominated.