Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
07NICOSIA135
2007-02-14 09:16:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Nicosia
Cable title:  

CYPRUS - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE NOMINATION

Tags:  KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO CY 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7126
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHNC #0135 0450916
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 140916Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY NICOSIA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7526
INFO RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4869
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
UNCLAS NICOSIA 000135 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR G/IWI AND EUR/SE

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO CY
SUBJECT: CYPRUS - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE NOMINATION

REF: STATE 12871

UNCLAS NICOSIA 000135

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

FOR G/IWI AND EUR/SE

E.O. 12958:N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO CY
SUBJECT: CYPRUS - INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE NOMINATION

REF: STATE 12871


1. Per reftel action request, Embassy Nicosia nominates anti-TIP
activist Ms. Mine Yucel for the Secretary's Award for International
Women of Courage. For further information regarding this nominee,
please contact Embassy's Bicommunal Program Coordinator Juliette
Dickstein, dicksteinja@state.gov, at (357) 22-393909, or Poloff
Terry Steers-Gonzalez, steers-gonzalezt@state.gov, at (357)
22-393364.


2. NAME: Mine Yucel
TITLE: Director
INSTITUTION: Prologue Consulting, LTD
DPOB: 5/26/77, Nicosia, Cyprus
ADDRESS: 32 Mehmet Akif Avenue, Koskluciftlik, Nicosia, Cyprus
OFFICE PHONE: (90) 392-227-1309
CELLULAR PHONE: (90) 542-854-6221
FACSIMILE: (90) 392-228-9372


3. Post nominates Mine Yucel for this Award because she has
demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in promoting
awareness of the problem of trafficking of women in the Turkish
Cypriot community. Her report, "Women Trafficking in the Turkish
Cypriot Community," which was completed in December 2006 with
partial support from Embassy Nicosia's Bicommunal Support Program,
has encouraged members of civil society organizations, academics,
and policy makers to engage in serious dialogue about how the
trafficking of women for the purpose of exploitation in the
commercial sex industry constitutes a grave abuse of human rights
that cannot be tolerated.


4. Yucel has devoted enormous amounts of professional and personal
time not only to mapping the extent of the problem in northern
Cyprus, but also to raising awareness among the Turkish Cypriot
community of the need for policy change: prevention of trafficking
activities, protection of victims, and prosecution of traffickers.
Yucel's study exposed her to direct personal danger when she
repeatedly ventured into seedy nightclubs run by criminal figures in
order to interview trafficked women, nightclub managers, and clients
seeking the services of the women.


5. Her work has generated unprecedented publicity and policy debate
within the Turkish Cypriot community. Over 50 articles on Yucel's
work appeared in the Turkish Cypriot press in December 2006 after
the release of her report. Yucel also discussed her work on Turkish
Cypriot television stations Genc TV and Kibris TV, as well as on
Kibris radio.


6. Her research and advocacy in the Turkish Cypriot community have
affected Greek Cypriot civil society as well. In no small part due
to her efforts, the issue of trafficking of women is being discussed
for the first time by the media in both communities as well as by
ordinary citizens. Her shocking report has helped Cypriots frame
the question of trafficking as a serious human rights problem --
single-handedly undermining the public belief that TIP and forced
prostitution were titillating subjects not fit for discussion in
polite society. She has created a dynamic policy debate, which the
Embassy is trying to maintain. NGOs from both sides of the "Green
Line" are now actively engaged in preparing for island-wide
activities that include a comprehensive public awareness campaign,
civil society capacity-building training programs, and a policy
document outlining recommendations for Cyprus, based on best
practices found among different anti-TIP national action plans.

SCHLICHER