COMBATING TIP IN TURKEY: UNEVEN PROGRESS TOWARD

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001956

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE, USAID

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/12/2018
TAGS: TIP SMIG PHUM KWMN KFRD ASEC ELAB TU
SUBJECT: COMBATING TIP IN TURKEY: UNEVEN PROGRESS TOWARD
SUSTAINABILITY

REF: A. ANKARA 610

B. SECSTATE 119763

Classified By: Acting POL Counselor Chris Krafft, reasons 1.4 (b,d)


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Turkey is facing a number of deadlines in
2009 in achieving long-term and sustainable support for core
aspects of its anti-trafficking program: the TIP shelters
and the "157" hotline. Our EU, NGO and GOT contacts remain
confident that Turkey will do so, but the effort has taken a
step backwards with the Istanbul municipality's notice that
it will no longer provide free rent to the NGO-run
trafficking shelter, despite a protocol between the city and
the NGO operating the shelter. To demonstrate a tangible and
concrete GOT role, MFA has pledged $120,000 over three years
to the Ankara and Istanbul shelters, but that amount only
constitutes a fraction of the shelters' annual operating
budgets, and other agencies have not yet come forward with
their own contributions. On the other hand, the GOT has
earmarked funding for nine positions in the Turkish National
Police (TNP) to operate the hotline. Interviews will begin
soon and the TNP should be ready to assume responsibility for
operating the hotline by the time the EU funding of IOM's
hotline operation ends in late 2009. Police officers were
apprehended in a number of recent anti-trafficking raids.
According to TNP, these officers are imprisoned awaiting
trial. Regional cooperation continues to strengthen as
Ankara prepares to host a regional NGO anti-trafficking
conference and Istanbul a regional conference on mutual legal
assistance. END SUMMARY.

A STEP BACK ON SHELTERS
--------------

2. (SBU) The Istanbul municipality has informed the Human
Resources Development Foundation (HRDF),the NGO operating
the Istanbul TIP shelter, that it no longer will provide free
rent, despite the protocol signed between HRDF and the
municipality in 2004 (at a ceremony witnessed by then-FM Gul
and Secretary Powell). According to HRDF President Turgut
Tokus, the city alleges that it is no longer authorized to so
as a result of an audit. The Istanbul shelter has assisted
54 trafficking victims so far this year. HRDF has, for the
time being, assumed rental costs, but the issue has created
uncertainty for the shelter's future, much like the Ankara
shelter faced last year (reftel). (NOTE: There is no
indication the Ankara municipality will cease to provide the
Ankara shelter facility and related utilities free of charge.
END NOTE.)


3. (SBU) EU funds have been supporting personnel and other
operating expenses at both shelters under the two-year 3
million euro TIP project (ref A),but these funds do not
include rent and are premised on an understanding that the
GOT would assume responsibility for funding the shelters upon
the project's completion, in 2009. European Commission funds
are available for the Ankara shelter through May 2009, and
for the Istanbul shelter through September 2009. According
to EC Sector Managers Burce Ari and Aycan Akdeniz, from the
EU perspective, a GOT failure to assume and/or guarantee
long-term funding for the shelters would constitute failure
of the EU project; there would be no EC follow-up on TIP.
Ari and Akdeniz hope the GOT will not allow it to come to
that. The EU does not usually make direct allocations to
sustain government services, but the EC had been persuaded
that Turkey was prepared to assume control after an interim
period, as promised in the National Action Plan (NAP). But
the NAP has languished in the Ministry of Interior (MOI)
unreleased for nearly a year, despite interagency approval,
and none of our contacts can quite explain why.


4. (SBU) Tokus, along with our EC and IOM contacts, tell us
that GOT TIP Taskforce Chairman Ambassador Kemal Gur has
prioritized reaching a solution on the shelters. MFA
recently pledged $120,000 over three years for the two
shelters, though that is only about ten percent of the annual
operating costs, excluding rent. These are GOT funds, and a
promising start, but other agencies -- namely the MOI, which
is the parent agency of TNP and Jandarma -- have not yet
matched the MFA pledge. TNP Foreigners' Department Chief
Mehmet Terzioglu told us that influential former Interior
Minister Abdulkadir Aksu (now ruling Justice and Development
Party Vice Chairman) has promised to intervene with the
municipality. The GOT and HRDF are also planning to lobby
the Turkish Red Crescent (Kizilay) to support trafficking
shelters in Turkey. Terzioglu lamented that the Taskforce is
engaged once again in finding solutions for the existing

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shelters when the GOT is in fact focused on expanding
facilities for protecting victims and potential victims,
focusing first on Antalya. That effort continues; HRDF, IOM
and GOT officials traveled recently to Antalya to meet with
the governor, mayor and other local officials. HRDF has
volunteered to train a local NGO there to administer a
"comfort and protection" facility for potential victims
awaiting screening. No formal contract has yet been reached
with the city. COMMENT: Our contacts are optimistic about
resolving this problem, and the Taskforce is demonstrating
considerable creative effort, but proposed solutions remain
ad hoc; the Taskforce's will has not yet been matched at the
GOT's most senior levels. END COMMENT.

FIRMER GROUND ON THE HOTLINE
--------------

5. (SBU) Unlike for the shelters, funding for nine additional
positions at TNP to operate the hotline has been appropriated
in the TNP budget. The TNP must conduct examinations and
interviews and should be prepared to begin operation in the
second half of 2009. EC funding to IOM for the hotline is
available through November 2009. As already reported, TNP
and IOM are in discussions on how to ensure an effective
handover of the hotline, which the GOT and IOM see as a
regional best practice. IOM and TNP have created a technical
working group that will meet in December to discuss the
transition. Terzioglu did not rule out to us hiring IOM
hotline staff, but contracting rules, he said, require that
new hires be subject to TNP examination and interviews.

POLICE OFFICERS CAUGHT IN ANTI-TRAFFICKING RAIDS
-------------- ---

6. (SBU) Terzioglu confirmed media reports that
anti-trafficking operations in the Istanbul and Mugla regions
ensnared upwards of 14 police officers. He did not confirm
media allegations that a retired police chief, as well as a
judge, a prosecutor and other judicial personnel were
involved. The cases are now with the Ministry of Justice
(MOJ),and Turkish custom does not permit a government
official to discuss an ongoing case. Terzioglu said he would
try to provide us basic information on the number of police
officers and other GOT officials arrested and the status of
their cases. The suspects are in prison awaiting trial. In
addition to any criminal penalties, the suspects will be
expelled when their cases are concluded -- a process that can
take two-three years (for an Article 80 prosecution). The
TNP is determined to root out any police involvement in
trafficking, said Terzioglu. COMMENT: We will press MOJ and
other GOT contacts for any information concerning efforts to
prosecute official involvement in TIP. END COMMENT.

TURKEY TIP ACTION GUIDE: REGIONAL ENGAGEMENT CONTINUES;
STRIVING TO ENSURE ALL VICTIMS IDENTIFIED
-------------- --------------

7. (SBU) We discussed the Action Guide for Turkey to Combat
TIP (ref B) and explained the areas of specific concern noted
in the TIP Report during our most recent outreach to GOT,
IOM, EC and NGO contacts. Post will translate the Action
Guide and provide our contacts copies in original and
Turkish. Regarding cooperation with source countries, MFA
Acting Department Head for Consular Affairs and Migration
Nilufer Kaygisiz noted that the Prime Ministry General
Directorate on Women will host a regional NGO conference on
TIP November 19 in Ankara, while Istanbul will play host to a
regional mutual legal assistance conference November 27-28.


8. (C) On victim identification, Terzioglu underscored that
Turkey has a sophisticated screening and referral mechanism,
that includes NGOs and IOM. Likewise, law enforcement
continues to receive extensive training on victim
identification and protection. He is aware of statistical
disparities between source and destination country and IOM
reporting, but the definition of a victim in Turkish Penal
Code Article 80 is close to the Palermo Convention.
Nonetheless, to help ensure a more common regional
understanding of who is a victim, Turkey is considering
signing and ratifying the Council of Europe Convention on
TIP, even as he implied that source countries may have an
interest in boosting the number of victims to take advantage
of the compensation mechanism. Definitions aside, strong
bilateral cooperation is essential, and Terzioglu noted the
importance of correspondence between source and destination
country authorities being done in English. On Armenia, he
underlined that there is no less interest in Turkey for the
welfare of Armenian victims than for other victims. But he
believes the problem cannot be as great as others suggest.

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According to Terzioglu, despite 30,000 Armenian visitors per
year, the annual difference between entries and exits is only
about 150, far fewer than that of other countries in the
region. Turkish police talk to Armenian colleagues at
regional conferences, but, in his view, the lack of
diplomatic relations -- an issue far outside the purview of
TNP or other officials responsible for combating TIP --
inevitably hinders communication. The TNP, he said, stands
ready to cooperate with Armenia on TIP, suggesting such
interaction could be facilitated by IOM or an NGO.

Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey

WILSON