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courage is contagious

Viewing cable 07ANKARA2475, ANKARA NOMINATION: 2008 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
07ANKARA2475 2007-10-05 06:24 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Ankara
VZCZCXRO7460
RR RUEHDA
DE RUEHAK #2475 2780624
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 050624Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC//G/IWI/0961// 3935
INFO RUEHIT/AMCONSUL ISTANBUL 3373
RUEHDA/AMCONSUL ADANA 2353
UNCLAS ANKARA 002475 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SECSTATE FOR G/IWI AND EUR 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL KPAO TU
SUBJECT:  ANKARA NOMINATION:  2008 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR 
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE (U) 
 
REF: A. STATE 037570 
B.  STATE 23653 
C.  STATE 12871 
D.  STATE 126072 
 
1.  (U) Personal Information: 
Full legal name of nominee - Rojbin Tugan 
Job title/Association - Lawyer 
Date of Birth - May 30, 1971 
Country of Birth - Turkey 
Citizenship - Turkish Republic 
Address - Bulak Mahallesi, Cumhuriyet Cad., Tugan Apt. 3rd Floor, 
Hakkari Telephone - +90 (0438) 211-6963 
Email - rtugan@yahoo.com  and  rtugan@hotmail.com, 
Passport number - TRK615258 
 
1.   (U) Justification for Nomination: 
Rojbin Tugan has been an articulate and resourceful advocate for 
human rights and rule of law in Turkey for over a dozen years.  In 
1996, she became the first-ever female lawyer in Hakkari province, a 
remote mountainous area bordering Iraq and Iran that has suffered 
from extreme poverty and PKK violence.  Ms Tugan has dedicated her 
career to the principle that government has a duty to ensure the 
security of its citizens and should be held accountable for doing 
so. 
 
Thousands of Turkish villagers in Hakkari and adjacent areas of 
Turkey were forced to evacuate their homes during periods of fierce 
fighting in the 1990s as Turkish security forces combated terrorists 
of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a group whose violence has 
claimed over 30,000 lives and put it on the US and EU list of 
terrorist organizations.  Ms Tugan is a staunch advocate for the 
rights of these villagers.  She has represented people who served as 
pro-government village guards and those accused of PKK sympathies 
who seek to return to their native villages or otherwise restart 
their lives.  In 2002, Ms Tugan represented a villager whose home 
and possessions were completely destroyed by the Turkish military 
during the evacuation.  Despite numerous threats to herself and her 
client, she persisted with the case and won compensation - the first 
time a victim of such an incident had successfully sued the 
government.  This landmark case has been affirmed by the Turkish 
Supreme Court and has become a precedent for scores of similar 
cases.  Recognizing her leadership on the evacuation issue, the 
Hakkari provincial governor appointed Ms Tugan to a government panel 
dealing with the thorny question of compensation for displaced 
villagers. 
 
In the same way that she expanded the opportunities for legal 
redress for displaced villagers, Ms Tugan is also working to address 
the problem of PKK and government-planted landmines that kill or 
maim hundreds each year.  In 2004, she established the Hakkari 
Anti-Landmine Awareness Campaign, which has educated local citizens 
about the dangers of landmines and led to a significant reduction in 
landmine incidents in the Hakkari area.  The campaign organization 
also arranges for medical care, psychological counseling and 
prosthetics for landmine victims.  Through direct lobbying and legal 
action in the courts, Ms Tugan is seeking compensation for mine 
victims and the initiation of a region-wide program in the schools 
to educate children in southeast Turkey about this continuing 
problem. 
 
Some Turkish authorities have been hostile to Ms Tugan's activism on 
these sensitive subjects.  She has been detained several times by 
local security officials and on one occasion was rescued from harm 
by a local public prosecutor, who was subsequently dismissed. 
Credible sources report that Ms Tugan appears on hit lists of 
several ultra-national organizations.  Ms Tugan accepts these risks 
stoically.  In one interview she said, "while defending the rule of 
law I am vulnerable to unlawfulness." 
 
Ms Tugan's commitment to Turkey's most vulnerable citizens and the 
rule of law is making a difference in the lives of Turkish citizens 
and toward strengthening Turkish democracy.  She is an inspiration 
to all people who are struggling to expand freedom in Turkey and 
throughout the world. 
 
2.  (U)  Notification of Nomination:  "Woman of Courage" nominee, 
Rojbin Tugan, was notified on 24 September, 2007, and agreed to be 
nominated.