TURKEY:EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

UNCLAS ANKARA 000036

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/PGI JIM KUYKENDALL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN XG PHUM
SUBJECT: TURKEY:EUR ENGAGEMENT ON WOMEN'S ISSUES

REF: A. SECSTATE 124579

B. ANKARA 1833


1. (SBU) This is a joint Embassy Ankara, Consulate General
Istanbul, and Consulate Adana cable.

Summary
--------------


2. (SBU) The U.S. Mission in Turkey has worked tirelessly
during the past year to promote awareness and empowerment on
women's issues. From managing grants and programs to
social events, all parts of the mission -- Embassy Ankara,
Consulate General Istanbul, and Consulate Adana -- have done
their part to ensure the message is received loud and clear
in Turkey: women's issues are important to the United States
and vital for the future of a successful Turkey. Secretary
Clinton's landmark visit to Turkey in March 2009 and in
particular her public outreach to women made a particularly
strong statement, as did the engagement with women
entrepreneurs by Ambassador at large for Women's Issues
Melanne Verveer. The following paragraphs answer ref a
request.

Embassy Ankara Efforts
--------------


3. (SBU) Embassy Ankara conducted several projects in order
to promote women's social, economic, and political
advancement in Turkey:

-- 12th annual "Flying Broom International Women's Film
Festival" in Ankara received a grant to screen U.S. films.
The film festival featured movies from the 1980s to highlight
the pressures women faced in the United States during that
decade and showcased 90 films by 81 female directors.

-- From the Ground Up: Building Civil Society Organizations
to Succeed, an exchange program for Turkish
and American grassroots leaders; those interested in or
working in the areas of women's empowerment, youth
empowerment, or environmental awareness and activism received
a grant. The project helped build the capacity of
non-governmental organizations through experiential
development training in the United States and Turkey.

-- In April 2009, Catherine Jaffee, researcher and Fulbright
scholar, visited American Corners in Kayseri, Erzurum and
Izmir and delivered speeches at the associated universities
regarding the Women's Rights Movement in the United States.
She also visited the NGOs in these regions to discuss women's
issues.

-- The mission also sent two women on International
Visitor's Programs during the year to promote women and
justice, and women and entrepreneurship.


4. (SBU) The Embassy continues to meet, on a regular basis,
with leaders from the women's rights community in order to
assess the situation of women in Turkey. During Human Rights
Day events in December, the Charge hosted a group of women
activists at his home, representing all sectors of society
(ref b). In order to prepare for the annual Human Rights
Report, Poloffs frequently meet and share information with
women's groups.

Consulate General Istanbul
--------------


5. (SBU) The U.S. Consulate General Istanbul regularly hosts
events and working lunches addressing and promoting women's
rights, health, and economic and political participation.

-- Through a Consulate visitors' program, one entrepreneur
was sent to the "Women Leaders for the World" seminar at
Santa Clara University which brought together women
entrepreneurs from around the world.

-- Filmmor Women's Cooperative received a grant to support
the seventh International Traveling Filmmor Women's Film
Festival organized by Filmmor Women Environment and Culture
and Management Cooperation's showing of two American films
"Shooting Women" and "Busting Out." The Consulate General
brought the two American movie directors to Turkey for a
multi-city program in Turkey, including: Istanbul, Manisa,
Sanliurfa and Trabzon. The main goal was to enable the
further incorporation of women into cinema and media, to
increase the presence and visibility of women and to help
establish a future where there is no gender discrimination or
violence, and where equal opportunities exist for women and
men. As a result of this program and associated events, one
of the films was translated into Turkish, dubbed by Istanbul
University, and is now used by NGOs, academics and health
institutions working on women's health.

-- Consulate General Istanbul supported the International
Women Entrepreneurs Conference organized by Turkish NGO
KAGIDER with the attendance of Ambassador-at-Large for
Women's Issues Melanne Verveer and a taped message from
Secretary Clinton. During Ambassador Verveer's visit, the
Consulate also organized a lunch with prominent women leaders
from the media, business and politics, in addition to a
roundtable with NGO activists working on women's issues in
order to address the main issues regarding women in Turkey
and the administration's projects/policies on promoting
women's rights around the world.

Consulate Adana
--------------


6. (SBU) The Life House Solidarity Association, a grantee in
Sanliurfa which is one of Turkey's most conservative
provinces with a largely clan-based social structure,
provided approximately 400 rural and urban women vocational
training in handicrafts and instruction on basic legal
rights. They also started a counseling program for victims
of domestic violence, informally estimated at one in every
fivehouseholds. Life House leveraged its reach in the city
by networking with the Sanliurfa municipality, but confronted
some difficulties in getting support from the provincial
authorities when they invited politically active Kurdish
women to a women's seminar.


7. (SBU) KAMER (Kamer Merkezi, or "Women's Center") is the
oldest and most prominent NGO working on women's issues in
Turkey. Its numerous projects cover 23 centers in eastern
and southeastern Turkey, including emergency support units
for victims of violence, human rights awareness campaigns,
education and literacy programs, and support for women
entrepreneurship. KAMER is particularly active in southeast
Turkey with programs to eliminate violence against women and
girls, including "honor" killings and suicides, and shelters
for battered women. U.S. Consulate Adana chose KAMER's
Diyarbakir chapter program focused on capacity building to
help KAMER establish standardized, professional methodologies
for helping female victims of crime and eventually to produce
more effective programs. The training also focused on how to
establish and manage an Emergency Support Center, gather data
and analyze it in a way that can shape national policy and
cultural norms, render support services to a victim, respond
to "honor" crimes, and how best to cooperate with local
entities such as bar associations, press, human rights
organizations and business circles. Post also gave a small
grant to KAMER in Bingol, one of Turkey's least populated and
poorest provinces with a literacy rate estimated at around 60
percent, to partner with local government institutions and
hold town hall meetings to discuss women's rights, "honor"
killings and suicides, discrimination, and gender roles.
KAMER Bingol continues seeking ways to knit a tighter
support network for women and girls in an exceptionally
underdeveloped and underfunded area.


8. (SBU) Post's grant program with Adiyaman province's
Anatolian Women's Association was very successful. We
selected the organization based on its track record of
sponsoring extensive training courses in reading and writing,
human rights awareness, and principles of entrepreneurship
(including vocational classes). Over six months, the AAWA
provided literacy training for 70 women and sent an
additional 70 through a vocational and business basics
training course where they learned to make and sell
traditional dolls and lace embroidery. Sixty unemployed
women were trained in basic computer skills to boost their
chances of finding secretarial work. The AAWA organized one
of the city's most significant reproductive health awareness
campaigns in partnership with the Ministry of Health, which
they report has contributed to a recent decline in the city's
birthrate. The AAWA president is a dynamic, energetic woman
who does not hesitate to leverage political and academic ties
in Istanbul and Ankara to help her cause. She also
understands the value of networking on a local and provincial
level as a force multiplier for programs. Post has
maintained close ties with these organizations long after the
grants have concluded. The Pol-Econ officer is exploring
coordination with Life House to establish a rural Women's
Library for recent literacy training graduates and other
villagers. Post remains close with AAWA President Hayriye
Ersoy, whose tireless activism for underrepresented women has
won the association new European Union-funded programs. Post
is looking at ways to support KAMER Bingol's former
president, who has resigned to start a new foundation to
support female entrepreneurship and economic justice
programs.


9. (SBU) U.S. Consulate Adana continues to work actively to
promote women's rights in the 22-province consular district.
To mark Human Rights Day and the 16 Days of Activism to
Eliminate Gender-Based Violence, the Pol-Econ officer
organized a DVC with Ms. Rene Renick, director of programs
and operations at the National Network to End Domestic
Violence. Ms. Renick shared ideas and expertise with ten
women representing Adana's local government, legal, civil
society, academic and health sectors. Participants discussed
advances made in combating domestic violence in the United
States, the political and legal
framework of the struggle, and the importance of developing
"best practices" policies and tools adapted to the Turkish
context - from awareness campaigns and shelters to punishment
and rehabilitation of perpetrators. For our audience, the
most important take-away lesson from the program was that
building a broad, coordinated community response to
gender-based violence is essential. Our participants left
energized and inspired, with ideas on how to continue
ensuring a supportive community infrastructure.

Challenges for the Future
--------------


10. (SBU) Post enjoyed immense success as a result of our
small grants programs for empowering women and girls.
Unfortunately, with no additional funding, we were not able
to capitalize on the momentum. Given the paucity of program
and representational funds, it has been difficult to continue
face-to-face outreach to these groups across the country,
especially in the critical and remote areas of southeast
Turkey. There is no end to the need for human-rights
awareness campaigns, literacy training, vocational training,
instruction on entrepreneurship, access to basic education,
educating boys and men in elimination of domestic violence
campaigns, and much more.


11. (SBU) Some other endemic problems for women's rights
groups are:

-- Often there is no linkage and/or networking between civil
society, charitable organizations, EU grants, and GOT
programs. Each activist seems to be working independently
without sharing information, funding, or knowledge. Further
compounding this, NGOs that do establish links are not
partnering together well.

-- Access to an education is still a serious problem for
girls, especially in the Southeast.

-- NGOs and activists are not sufficiently trained. Most
NGOs simply react to problems rather than taking a proactive
approach to advocate on important issues. NGO exchange and
training programs between the United States and Turkey could
help them to develop new techniques and skills to gain
attention and advocate for vital rights.


12. (SBU) Mission Turkey will continue to carry out
innovative speaker programs and other outreach appropriate to
the local context, like Consulate Adana's plan for a
breast-cancer awareness campaign partnering with a local
hospital and Adana's university. Mission Turkey will
continue to leverage partnerships and sponsors to provide
force multipliers for existing speaker and exchange programs.
The United States should play a unifying role in bringing
various parties to the table to unite efforts of
the local and central government, NGOs, the healthcare sector
and academia, who often do not know or understand what their
counterparts are doing on women's issues. Furthermore,
training and education on issues of advocacy and organizing
will help bring civil society in Turkey to a place where real
dialogue -- and real change -- can continue.
SILLIMAN

"Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at http://www.intelink.s
gov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turkey"