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DE RUEHAK #6672/01 3491525
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 151525Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 0315
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 006672 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP JENNIFER DONNELLY, EUR/SE ELISE 
MELLINGER 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PHUM KCRM KWMN PGOV SMIG TU
SUBJECT: TIP IN TURKEY: PARLIAMENT PASSES KEY AMENDMENTS 
 
 
¶1. (SBU)  Summary:  The Turkish parliament passed amendments 
to two key articles in the Turkish Penal Code (TPC) December 
5 that will improve anti-trafficking efforts in Turkey once 
implemented.  Lawmakers added forced prostitution to Article 
80, the primary anti-trafficking article, and removed forced 
prostitution from Article 227, the prostitution and pimping 
article.  Up to now, prosecutors had tended to use the less 
stringent Article 227 to try cases against traffickers as a 
majority of trafficking crimes in Turkey involve forced 
prostitution.  With the amendments, lawmakers have ensured 
that traffickers will be tried under the appropriate, tougher 
provision, Article 80.  Now, victims will be assured of 
automatic protection, legal counseling and health care. 
Traffickers will be subject to stricter sentencing 
requirements of eight to twelve years.  Statistics on 
prosecution of TIP-related crimes will be more reflective of 
the real story as most TIP crimes are tracked under Article 
80 prosecutions.  End Summary 
 
-------------------------- 
Article 227 vs. Article 80 
-------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) In October 2004, the Turkish parliament passed 
Article 80, a new article in the TPC, to consolidate prior 
anti-trafficking in persons (TIP) provisions and to provide 
for increased penalties for traffickers.  In June 2005, the 
parliament completed its revision to the TPC, when Article 80 
replaced old trafficking-related articles such as Article 
¶201.  Article 80, however, did not at the time contain a 
specific reference to forced prostitution, which was 
specifically addressed in Article 227 on prostitution and 
pimping.  Because Article 80 lacked that specific reference, 
prosecutors tended to use the less-stringent Article 227 to 
prosecute traffickers of women for prostitution, in order to 
ensure a solid case. 
 
¶3. (U)  In an effort to eliminate the confusion, the 
parliament in December amended Article 227 to remove any 
reference to forced prostitution and amended Article 80 to 
add the new phrase "made them be involved in prostitution" 
into the following paragraph (informal Embassy translation): 
 
A person who procures or kidnaps persons or who takes or 
transports persons from one place to another or who harbors 
persons with a view to force them to work or to provide a 
service, made them be involved in prostitution or to subject 
them to slavery or similar practices or donate their organs 
by exerting threats, pressure, force or violence, by abusing 
his authority, by deceit or by obtaining their consent 
through taking advantage of the opportunities they have to 
control them or of their helplessness shall be sentenced to 
imprisonment for a term of eight to twelve years and to an 
judicial fine of up to ten thousand days. (Note: Days refers 
to per day minimum wage equivalent.  End note) 
 
-------------------------------------- 
Trabzon Prosecutor Provides 
   Illustrative Example of the Problem 
-------------------------------------- 
 
¶4. (SBU) When we met with him in September, Trabzon Chief 
Public Prosecutor Riza Can explained the need to eliminate 
the confusion but doubted that parliament would make this a 
priority.  He told us then that all of the cases his office 
brought under Article 80 have been rejected by the high 
crimes court in Trabzon and returned to the prosecutor.  Can 
said the approximately 10 open cases were related to sex 
trafficking and the higher court rejected them because 
prostitution was not explicitly mentioned in Article 80, 
while forced prostitution was outlined in Article 227.  Can 
said he would still follow the evidence and bring cases under 
Article 80 as warranted.  If prosecutors are forced to use 
Article 227, he noted, prosecutors can and do combine several 
other TPC articles with Article 227 to subject traffickers to 
increased punishment.  For example, Can said, forced 
prostitution with an organized crime element can bring double 
the punishment under Article 227; a separate Article 250 can 
be used as well.  His point was that. while the evidence 
warrants prosecuting under Article 80, cases brought under 
Article 227 and others could and did still subject 
traffickers to a similarly high level of potential penalty 
and sentencing. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Can said he was concerned about how Article 80 was 
being applied.  He was skeptical (in September) that the 
parliament would consider amending the law and expected the 
issue would be resolved instead through case law.  At the 
time, many other prosecutors, Ministry of Justice and police 
 
ANKARA 00006672  002 OF 002 
 
 
officials and political party and NGO contacts echoed Can's 
opinion. 
 
-------------------------------------------- 
Change Will Improve Anti-trafficking Efforts 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) The anti-trafficking National Task Force, 
particularly the MFA, Turkish National Police and Jandarma, 
led efforts to lobby parliament to pass the amendments.  The 
International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the 
Embassy also encouraged the changes.  President Sezer must 
still sign the bill, which also includes several provisions 
on EU-related reform.  MFA contacts tell us that even though 
some reform elements of the bill may be vetoed by the 
President, they do not expect he will veto the amendments 
made to TPC Articles 80 and 227. 
 
¶7. (SBU) The amendments advance anti-trafficking efforts in 
the following areas: 
 
-- Under Article 80, victims have increased protection rights 
under the Supplementary Protocol and domestic law.  These 
rights include automatic protection and access to legal 
counseling and health care.  While victims were often 
provided such rights before using other law provisions, this 
change will make it automatic and help ensure uniform 
application of these rights country-wide. 
 
-- Traffickers will be subject to sentences of eight to 
twelve years.  Article 227 contained lower sentencing 
provisions.  Even though prosecutors often used several 
different articles to prosecute traffickers in addition to 
Article 227 that increased the possible sentence, prosecutors 
told us proving all elements was more difficult than if they 
were able to prosecute under a single, comprehensive article. 
 
-- The GOT will be able to gain a more accurate picture of 
investigations, prosecutions and sentencing against 
traffickers because most TIP crimes are tracked under Article 
80 and not Article 227. 
 
------- 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Although anti-trafficking advocates recognized the 
Article 227 versus 80 problem immediately after the TPC was 
finalized in June 2005, Embassy contacts were skeptical that 
parliament would pass the needed amendments so soon after the 
TPC was completely overhauled.  Most expected that 
jurisprudence via High Court of Appeal (Yargitay) case laws 
would have to solve the problem, which would have taken 
years.  The success of the National Task Force's lobbying 
effort, therefore, came as a welcome surprise.  While the 
effort demonstrates the GOT's seriousness in combating 
trafficking, implementation will be the barometer by which to 
measure real progress. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/ankara/ 
 
WILSON