VZCZCXYZ0000
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHAK #0036/01 0081516
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 081516Z JAN 10
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1640
INFO RHEHAAA/NSC WASHDC

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"