TURKEY: 8TH ANNUAL TIP REPORT: OVERVIEW AND

UNCLAS ANKARA 000424 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR: G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, PRM, EUR/SE, EUR/PGI DEPT FOR USAID E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB TU SUBJECT: TURKEY: 8TH ANNUAL TIP REPORT: OVERVIEW AND PREVENTION REF: A. SECSTATE 2731 ¶B. 07 ANKARA 2893 ¶1. (U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶2. (U) Post's responses are keyed to reftel A questions. This is part 1 of 3 (septels). Embassy point of contact is Anthony Renzulli, telephone 90-312-457-7178, fax 90-312-468-4775. Renzulli (FS-03) spent approximately 90 hours in preparation of this report. External Unit Chief Chris Krafft (FS-02) and Political Counselor Janice G. Weiner (FS-01) each spent approximately 2 hours reviewing this report. OVERVIEW -------------- ¶A. (SBU) Turkey is a destination country for women trafficked internationally for the purpose of sexual exploitation and, to a lesser degree, forced labor. Men and children are much more rarely trafficked to Turkey. The Turkish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) reports 148 victims rescued in 2007. Eight were children, under the age of 18. IOM reports having assisted 118 of these victims, the rest choosing to forego the IOM referral mechanism and return directly to their countries. Of these 118 IOM-assisted, only four were children, five were men, and 15 were trafficked for the purpose of forced labor. The vast majority of victims are trafficked from Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. Of the victims IOM assisted in 2007, the source countries were as follows: Moldova (43),Russia (18), Kyrgyzstan (14),Turkmenistan (12),Uzbekistan (11),Bulgaria (6),Ukraine (6),Azerbaijan (3),and Georgia (3). IOM only assisted two victims from outside this region during the reporting period: one from Tunisia and one from Sri Lanka. Between January 1 and February 15, 2008, IOM has assisted an additional fifteen victims, all adults. The source countries were as follows: Moldova (9),Russia (2),Azerbaijan (1), Belarus (1),Turkmenistan (1),and Morocco (1). The principal Turkish destinations for trafficked victims are Antalya, Izmir, Istanbul, Trabzon, and Ankara, suggesting a strong correlation in Turkey between tourism and TIP. No Turkish territory is outside the government's control. The incidence of internal trafficking is rare compared to international trafficking (less than ten percent of the TIP files in Turkish courts in 2007 pertained to Turkish 
victims.) Social conditions in parts of rural Turkey -- poverty, illiteracy, domestic violence, and internal migration to urban areas -- are similar to those faced in countries where victims trafficked to Turkey originate, suggesting that internal trafficking could still emerge as a serious problem in Turkey. MFA, Turkish National Police (TNP),Jandarma, Ministry of Justice (MOJ),Ministry of Labor (MOL),IOM, and the two organizations operating the Istanbul and Ankara TIP shelters -- Human Resources Development Foundation (HRDF) and Foundation for Women's Solidarity (FWS),respectively -- are our primary sources of TIP information; these sources and their data are reliable. Turkey's interagency taskforce on TIP has made significant strides in improving the documentation of trafficking. In 2007 the GOT issued a comprehensive 2006 report on combating TIP in Turkey, and plans to continue to do so on an annual basis. According to GOT and IOM data, young women from the former Soviet Union (sometimes referred to pejoratively in Turkey as "Natashas") are at the greatest risk of being trafficked. ¶B. (SBU) The GOT continues to take TIP seriously and has taken significant measures during the rating period to prevent trafficking, protect victims, and prosecute traffickers. Interagency and NGO cooperation has further improved. Law enforcement remained determined in its efforts to crack down on TIP. According to TNP, anti-trafficking operations (91 in 2007) have led to a significant decrease in the number of victims identified. The GOT also believes the December 2006 amendment of Turkish Penal Code (TPC) Article 80, which added forced prostitution to the anti-trafficking article, thereby raising the trafficking penalty to eight to twelve years in prison (see part 2, septel),further deterred traffickers. The GOT also pursued robust regional cooperation and undertook a number of highly successful anti-trafficking operations in partnership with source country governments, including through information sharing with source country authorities. Recognizing a year-on-year decrease in the number of traffickers apprehended and victims rescued, law enforcement is actively researching migration routes and other evidence to determine whether traffickers have adjusted their methodologies to avoid apprehension. Most victims are remedially-educated women aged 18-35 who travel to Turkey voluntarily seeking employment; a far smaller percentage arrive in Turkey for travel or marriage purposes. Some victims arrive in Turkey with the knowledge they will work illegally in the sex industry, but others as models, dancers, waitresses, or domestic servants. About fifty percent of IOM-assisted victims during the rating period were mothers. The large majority of traffickers are Turkish (264 out of 308),though many recruiters are from source countries. Women are instrumental in recruiting victims, though boyfriends and phony employment agencies also play a role. Force, passport capture/counterfeiting, and debt bondage for travel costs are trafficker methods TNP has identified. TIP is primarily carried out by small networks of traffickers in Turkey and the source countries. Turkish law enforcement authorities believe TIP is closely associated with organized and other transnational crime. However, law enforcement agencies represented at post (DEA and FBI) have not identified a strong correlation between TIP and, for example, narco-trafficking in Turkey. Turkey has a liberal visa regime, making it relatively easy to traffic victims to Turkey or for at-risk women to enter Turkey. In an effort to boost commercial ties in the region, Turkey, in July 2007, unilaterally exempted Tajik, Turkmen, and Uzbek nationals from visa requirements for visits to Turkey of thirty days or less. Turkey had already waived, mutually, visa requirements with Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. ¶C. (SBU) MFA, Ministry of Interior (MOI -- includes TNP and Jandarma),MOJ, and MOL are the principal government agencies involved in anti-trafficking efforts. The Ministry of Health (MOH) provides free health care to victims, and the Ankara and Istanbul municipal governments furnish space for the two dedicated TIP shelters free of charge. The interagency taskforce met quarterly during the rating period -- up from twice yearly last year -- and is led by Ambassador Kemal Gur, MFA Director General for Consular Affairs. Numerous agencies, municipalities, IOM, the shelter administrators, and the European Commission (EC) participate in taskforce meetings. (See Prevention, para E, below, for details on the taskforce composition.) Our EC contacts tell us the GOT's interagency and NGO cooperation on TIP is at a uniquely high level, exceeding Turkish performance in other EU accession areas pertaining to justice and rule of law. ¶D. (SBU) Turkey is a developing country with a median GDP of approximately $6,900, situated at the crossroads of major East-West and North-South migration flows. In 2007, over 23 million tourists visited Turkey, and another 780,000 in January 2008 -- a ten percent increase over 2006. At the same time, Turkey faces a serious cross-border (PKK) terrorism problem originating from northern Iraq, which resulted in the death of 166 Turkish security forces and civilians in 2007. The fight against terrorism commands a huge share of Turkey's law enforcement and prosecutorial resources. Despite these challenges, Turkey has mustered impressive organizational and financial resources to combat TIP -- far in excess, it argues, of neighboring source countries. One particular challenge the GOT faces in maintaining TIP statistics is the peculiar division of responsibility between TNP and Jandarma. In Turkey, municipal law enforcement is TNP's responsibility, while rural areas, borders and ports of entry are policed by the Jandarma (Gendarmerie). Both agencies report to the Minister of Interior, but data exchange between the two is sometimes inefficient, though TNP retains the sole responsibility for victim identification. Also, judicial data collection can be problematic, since statistics on prosecutions, convictions and sentencing must be collected from local courts in 81 provinces; there is no centralized database. Judicial proceedings in Turkey are, as a general rule, painfully slow. Another challenge the GOT faces is how to efficiently and effectively utilize the aid it receives as a neighboring and accession country from European donors. For example, delays in finalizing an MOU with the European Commission on a two-year, 3 million Euro comprehensive anti-TIP project -- which was to include shelter support -- nearly led the Ankara shelter to suspend operations when it could no longer afford to pay salaries (ref B). The GOT will have to ensure no new resource gaps emerge as it implements European-funded projects. A new, comprehensive anti-TIP national action plan is currently awaiting the Prime Minister's signature and translation into English. The plan is expected to ensure sustainable GOT support for victim assistance measures, e.g., the telephone helpline, shelters, etc. ¶E. (U) As noted above, in 2007 the GOT published a domestic, interagency, 2006 TIP report. Both publicly and privately, including through active regional engagement, the GOT frequently and candidly shares with us and other countries its assessment of domestic anti-trafficking efforts. PREVENTION -------------- ¶A. (U) The GOT acknowledges that trafficking is a problem in Turkey. ¶B. (SBU) IOM continues to operate a toll-free "157" helpline for victims of trafficking. Operators who speak Russian, Romanian, English and Turkish staff the helpline 24 hours per day. The helpline became operational for international calls (90-312-157-1122) in April 2007 -- a significant achievement since a substantial portion of helpline tips come from family, acquaintances and other sources, and not from the victims themselves. 28 victims were rescued through the helpline in 2007, and one more victim between January 1 and February 15, 2008. IOM reports that traffickers sometimes try to block the helpline through phony calls with unreadable numbers. The TNP has requested the Ankara Prosecutor undertake an investigation. Posters and billboards in regional airports and seaports advertise the helpline in Russian, Romanian, English and Turkish. Turkey's accumulated efforts to publicize the helpline have had success: IOM reports that media information accounted for nearly half the reported rescue requests through the helpline in 2007. The Minister of Interior has authorized TNP to assume full operational responsibility for the helpline in the coming year. The Ministry of Finance (MOF) has allocated the funding for nine staff positions, and TNP is preparing applications. GOT authorities continue to distribute small passport inserts warning against TIP and advertising the helpline to at-risk travelers entering the country at key ports of entry. Turkish consulates also hand out the inserts to visa applicants in source countries. In 2007, the Jandarma published a guidebook on the fight against TIP to educate its officers on detecting TIP and has published a number of public awareness and training materials to be used at Jandarma outposts throughout Turkey. Jandarma reported that 3,280 copies of the guidebook were distributed to its personnel last year (see part 2, septel). TNP reported that in 2007 it distributed 1,000 copies of a similar guide for police, published in 2006. ¶C. (SBU) As noted, the GOT has a close, productive working relationship with NGOs and with IOM. Ankara and Istanbul shelter operators FWS and HRDF, along with IOM, serve on the GOT interagency TIP taskforce. TNP has the sole GOT mandate to identify trafficking victims. It undertakes this responsibility in tandem with IOM and shelter representatives to ensure proper victim identification. The GOT takes a leading role in the regional fight against TIP. It participated actively in regional anti-trafficking conferences and initiatives through the OSCE, UN Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC),the Southeast European Cooperation Initiative (SECI),the Council of Europe, Organization for Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC),the International Center for Migration/Budapest Process, and the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA). As the 2007 BSEC Chairman, Turkey hosted a BSEC regional TIP seminar in Istanbul, in August 2007, and, as Budapest Process Chairman, it also hosted in Istanbul a joint UNODC/BSEC/Budapest Process conference on "Human Trafficking in the Black Sea." On January 31-February 1, Turkey chaired the first CICA experts group meeting in Ankara, where it invited IOM's Pakistan-based Regional Representative and the Turkish National Police (TNP) to address the experts group on the struggle against TIP and strongly encouraged CICA Member states to take on TIP as a component of the CICA work program. ¶D. (SBU) The TNP monitors legal and illegal air, sea and land-based migration patterns for evidence of trafficking. Jandarma officers stationed along Turkey's borders are trained to detect TIP. Jandarma now has specialized, anti-TIP teams operating at all (25) border crossings, up from five. GOT officials do not have the authority to refuse or turn away visa applicants or travelers crossing the border from known source countries simply because they are at risk of becoming victimized when they arrive in Turkey, i.e., are young, single women. ¶E. (SBU) As noted, there is an interagency GOT taskforce led by MFA Director General for Consular Affairs Ambassador Kemal Gur. Gur has expanded the taskforce and directed it to meet every other month. It met quarterly during the reporting period, up from twice yearly the previous year. In addition to MFA, the taskforce is officially composed of the following agencies, IGO and NGOs: ¶1. MOJ - EU Directorate ¶2. MOJ - Legislative Affairs Directorate ¶3. MOJ - Penal Affairs Directorate ¶4. MOJ - Judicial Records and Statistics Directorate ¶5. MOJ - Training Department ¶6. MOJ - International Law and Foreign Relations Directorate ¶7. The Court of Appeals Presidency ¶8. MOI - Jandarma General Command, Human Smuggling Crimes Department ¶9. MOI - Coast Guard Command ¶10. MOI - Foreign Relations and EU Coordination Department ¶11. MOI - TNP, Foreigners, Borders and Asylum Department ¶12. MOI - TNP, Public Order Department ¶13. MOI - TNP, Smuggling and Organized Crime Department ¶14. MOF - Budget and Financial Control Directorate ¶15. MOF - Council to Investigate Financial Crimes ¶16. MOH - Treatment Services Directorate ¶17. MOH - Foreign relations Department ¶18. MOL - Labor Department ¶19. MOL - Foreign Relations and Worker Services Abroad Department ¶20. EU Secretariat General - Political Affairs Department ¶21. State Planning Organization Under Secretariat (Prime Ministry) ¶22. Social Services and Orphanages Directorate (State Ministry) ¶23. Status of Women and Children Directorate (State Ministry) ¶24. Social Assistance and Solidarity Fund (Prime Ministry) ¶25. Human Rights Presidency (Prime Ministry) ¶26. Cankaya (Ankara) Sub-Governor - Social Assistance and Solidarity Foundation ¶27. Ankara Metropolitan Municipality ¶28. Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality ¶29. Trabzon Metropolitan Municipality ¶30. Antalya Metropolitan Municipality ¶31. Izmir Metropolitan Municipality ¶32. Artvin Municipality ¶33. Igdir Municipality ¶34. European Commission Turkey Representative ¶35. IOM Turkey Representative ¶36. Bar Association Union ¶37. Human Resources Development Foundation (HRDF) ¶38. Foundation for Women's Solidarity (FWS) We have not been informed of a specific TIP-related public corruption taskforce. ¶F. (SBU) The GOT has a national action plan to address TIP. The taskforce-participating agencies, NGOs, and IOM were involved in developing it. It mandates close NGO, IGO and interagency cooperation. The same agencies have drafted a new national action plan, currently awaiting the Prime Minister's signature and translation into English. The new action plan will complement the ongoing two-year, 3 million Euro EC project aimed at shoring up sustainability in the fight against trafficking, notably though victim protection measures and law enforcement and judicial training. (See Overview, para D, above.) (We will further report on the EC project septel.) ¶G. (SBU) We are not aware of any specific measures taken by the GOT during the reporting period to reduce demand for commercial sex acts outside of the normal legal and zoning restrictions under which legal brothels operate. However, IOM reported that, on March 7, as part of the EC project (see above),IOM will begin an investigation on demand for trafficked victims, with the particular aim of uncovering any evidence that might point to other forms of exploitation, notably labor. Academics researchers are presently being selected. ¶H. (U) We have no evidence indicating Turkish nationals actively participate in international child sex tourism. ¶I. (SBU) Four Turkish military personnel (one each from the Land Forces and Naval Forces Command, and two from Jandarma) participated in a NATO Partnership for Peace (PfP) training, hosted by the Turkish PfP Training Center, February 18-22, 2008, on the fight against TIP. The training, also made available to other NATO and PfP country personnel, primarily from source countries, focused on the differences between human smuggling and TIP, victim identification, intelligence and data collection, database management, investigation techniques, as well as the role of NGOs, international organizations and civil society, and NATO policy on human trafficking. In addition, the PfP Training Center provides an annual one week course on TIP to Turkish unit command assigned to peacekeeping operations. Thirty Turkish personnel received the training in 2007. Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey WILSON