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DE RUEHAK #1709/01 2691217
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 251217Z SEP 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7555
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEATRS/TREASURY DEPT WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC PRIORITY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 ANKARA 001709 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE, USAID 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: TIP SMIG PHUM KWMN KFRD ASEC ELAB TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY/TIP: NEW PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN 
LAUNCHED; CAPACITY CONTINUES TO BE STRENGTHENED 
 
REF: ANKARA 610 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY.  The GOT has launched a media campaign, 
including posters, TV and radio spots, to raise public 
awareness of TIP and promote the "157" hotline, and is taking 
additional steps to generate public support in the fight 
against TIP.  A draft GOT-commissioned report on demand for 
TIP in Turkey is expected to be released soon and should shed 
light on sources of demand for trafficked victims, including 
victims trafficked domestically.  Institutional capacity has 
been strengthened greatly this summer through "train the 
trainers" courses for judges, prosecutors and law enforcement 
officials.  We are still awaiting formal adoption of the 
National Action Plan and a solution guaranteeing long-term 
funding for shelters and hotline operation; shelter funding 
is ensured for the remainder of the reporting period and GOT 
officials assure us that a solution will be reached.  Turkey 
supports the Council of Europe convention on TIP, but wants 
to ensure its ability to implement all provisions of the 
convention before signing.  END SUMMARY. 
 
PUBLIC AWARENESS CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED 
---------------------------------- 
¶2. (U) The GOT launched a new trafficking-in-person (TIP) 
public awareness campaign June 30.  The campaign features TV 
and radio advertisements and more than forty thousand posters 
in municipalities throughout Turkey, primarily in TIP 
hotspots, promoting the GOT's anti-trafficking "157" hotline. 
 The campaign is the first of a two-tiered public awareness 
strategy being implemented by the Ministry of Interior (MOI) 
in partnership with IOM as part of the ongoing two-year, 
three million euro, EU-funded anti-trafficking program 
(reftel).  Next year the campaign will be expanded to target 
media markets in key source countries throughout the Black 
Sea region, raising awareness of the hotline and the GOT's 
commitment to assisting victims.  (The hotline can already be 
reached internationally by dialing (90)(312)157-1122.) 
 
¶3. (U) A leading Istanbul advertising agency produced the 
posters and television and radio advertisements (CD-R copy 
sent by pouch to G/TIP).  MFA Trafficking and Migration 
Section Head Nilufer Kaygisiz told us September 23 that she 
was proud of the cooperation demonstrated by GOT taskforce 
members, including IOM, who worked together to develop the 
campaign's themes.  The ads use strong language and the TV 
spots employ stark visual imagery to underscore the human 
dimension of trafficking, urging Turks not to remain 
indifferent to human trafficking and to call the "157" 
hotline (the international number is also shown on the 
poster) if they suspect human trafficking.  In the TV and 
radio spots, the narrator, in Turkish, states: 
 
-- Each year, approximately 800 thousand men, women and 
children are made victims of trafficking worldwide. 
-- A great majority of these people are forced into 
prostitution. 
-- Some are forced into labor. 
-- These people are being deceived and their desperation 
exploited. 
-- Every passing day, men, women and children are becoming 
TIP victims. 
-- They cannot get their voices heard; they want to be saved. 
-- By calling the "157" hotline, you can save a life. 
-- Turkey is determined in the fight against human 
trafficking. 
 
¶4. (U) According to Kaygisiz and IOM Trafficking Assistant 
Meltem Ersoy, the GOT easily obtained Radio and Television 
High Commission (RTUK) approval of the commercials, and the 
ads are appearing regularly on major Turkish TV and cable 
channels, free of charge.  However, Kaygisiz told us that MFA 
wishes to persuade the networks to air the spots more often, 
and will discuss this issue during the next scheduled 
interagency TIP taskforce meeting, October 10. 
 
¶5. (U) The GOT is undertaking a number of additional measures 
to further raise TIP awareness in Turkey.  Kaygisiz told us 
that representatives of the Turkish Doctors Association 
(TTB), Turkish Travel Agents Union (TURSAB), and the Ministry 
of Tourism will participate in the upcoming meeting of the 
interagency taskforce.  TTB represents doctors in private 
practice who, said Kaygisiz, need to be informed, as public 
hospitals have been, that trafficking victims are guaranteed 
free medical treatment in Turkey by decree.  The Ministry of 
Health will coordinate this outreach effort with TTB. 
 
ANKARA 00001709  002 OF 003 
 
 
Likewise, the GOT believes the hotel and tourism industry can 
play a critical front-line role in identifying and reporting 
possible trafficking acts.  Further raising public awareness, 
the GOT will soon release the print version of its 2007 
"Report on Combating Human Trafficking in Turkey."  (The 
report, like last year's, will be in Turkish and English; an 
electronic version of the data in Turkish is included on the 
CD-R pouched to G/TIP.)  Upon public release, the link to the 
report will be updated on the MFA, MOI and Ministry of 
Justice (MOJ) homepages. 
 
GOT CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN ANTI-TIP CAPACITY 
--------------------------------------------- 
¶6. (U) The GOT is undertaking a number of additional 
anti-trafficking activities as part of the EU-funded program. 
 Kaygisiz and Ersoy said they expect that Middle East 
Technical University senior researchers will submit in the 
next couple of weeks a draft comprehensive report on demand 
for TIP in Turkey.  The GOT-commissioned report is expected 
to shed light on sources of demand for trafficked victims, 
including those trafficked domestically, which some experts 
believe may be overlooked as a result of the GOT's 
bureaucratic focus on combating international trafficking for 
sexual exploitation.  (MFA chairs the interagency taskforce.) 
 The same researcher team will then begin work on a second 
report, that will set out recommendations for strengthening 
the GOT TIP taskforce. 
 
¶7. (U) TIP training took place in Turkey throughout the 
summer.  Thirty law enforcement officers and forty judges and 
prosecutors participated in "train the trainers" courses. 
The training focused not only on counter-trafficking skills, 
such as victim identification and interviewing skills, but 
also on training skills; the training will start to be 
"cascaded" to hundreds of officers in the respective agencies 
beginning after the Ramadan holidays (September 29-October 
3).  Ersoy expects the training to reach at least 300 judges 
and prosecutors and 280 "first contact" law enforcement 
officers.  She noted that former Scotland Yard officer and 
renowned TIP expert Paul Holmes participated in one such 
training session earlier in the summer.  Kaygisiz pointed out 
that counter-trafficking training has expanded greatly beyond 
the TNP Foreigners Department to include other departments in 
the TNP Security Directorate, namely Law and Order.  Turkish 
law enforcement, she said, is increasingly well trained to 
identify and assist victims of domestic trafficking. 
 
¶8. (U) An MOJ delegation traveled to Belgium July 7-10 and 
Italy July 14-18 to compare best practices on TIP.  Ersoy 
contended that MOJ officials are eager to learn European best 
practices, but that those visiting Belgium and Italy came 
away from the visits feeling that Turkey's legislative 
framework for prosecuting TIP was, in fact, more advanced 
than what they saw in Europe.  The delegation was reportedly 
more impressed by the NGO and international law enforcement 
cooperation they witnessed in Belgium and Italy. 
 
STILL AWAITING LONG-TERM 
SOLUTION ON SHELTERS 
------------------------ 
¶9. (SBU) Turkey's anti-TIP shelters are funded presently by 
the EU through the two-year counter-trafficking program. 
According to Ersoy, Chairman Kemal Gur is pushing the 
taskforce hard to identify a guaranteed and sustainable 
source of funding for the shelters.  Nine months' funding is 
presently guaranteed for the Ankara-based shelter and twelve 
months for the Istanbul-based shelter.  Kaygisiz assured us 
the Ministry of Finance (MOF) is prepared to provide 
short-term, bridge financing to ensure no disruption in 
shelter service, if necessary.  However, a sustainable, 
long-term solution has yet to be reached.  MFA will urge the 
creation of a taskforce sub-group of concerned agencies to 
work out the problem, probably led by TNP, which most 
directly engages with the shelters.  Kaygisiz believes that 
creating such a sub-group would underscore the urgency 
attached to reaching a solution on this issue.  She recalled 
that when statistical collection was proving impossibly 
disorganized, a sub-group was created under the MOJ 
Statistics Department, and GOT statistical reporting on TIP 
improved quickly. 
 
¶10. (SBU) TNP has already indicated its intent to take over 
from IOM operation of the "157" hotline.  TNP is in the 
process of identifying and training multi-lingual staff to 
administer the hotline; MOF has approved nine positions. 
 
ANKARA 00001709  003 OF 003 
 
 
Both IOM and MFA noted to us a sense of caution:  TNP, when 
it takes over, should continue to operate the hotline as 
effectively as IOM has.  Ersoy said TNP should take over 
IOM's "whole capacity" for administering the hotline. 
Kaygisiz did not rule out the possibility that IOM would, in 
the end, continue to operate the hotline, with direct GOT 
funding. 
 
¶11. (SBU) Key to building sustainable anti-trafficking 
capacity in Turkey is passage of the revised National Action 
Plan (NAP).  The NAP has already been approved by the Council 
of Ministers, but is, to the taskforce's frustration, still 
awaiting the Interior Minister's signature (presumably at a 
ceremony) before it can be sent to the PM for formal 
adoption.  Recognizing that terrorist attacks and domestic 
political turmoil have consumed the Interior Minister's 
attention in recent months, Kaygisiz said she is confident 
this will happen soon. 
 
TURKEY SUPPORTS COUNCIL OF EUROPE 
TIP CONVENTION; WEIGHING SIGNATURE 
---------------------------------- 
¶12. (SBU) Kaygisiz told us Turkey is considering carefully 
whether to sign at this time the Council of Europe Convention 
on Action Against Trafficking in Human Beings.  The taskforce 
will discuss the convention at its next meeting and may task 
MOJ to develop a recommendation.  Turkey, she said, supports 
the thrust of the convention, participated in the working 
groups leading to its formation, and would like to remain 
engaged in the convention's further development.  Before the 
GOT signs, however, it wants to ensure Turkey will be ready 
to develop the necessary implementing legislation to ratify 
the convention.  Most European countries, in particular the 
source countries in Turkey's region, have signed the 
convention and even ratified it, without, Kaygisiz suggested, 
the necessary legislation to implement the convention fully, 
perhaps out of support for the convention's compensation and 
legal redress guarantees.  She noted some potential Turkish 
concern with the provision criminalizing the use of services 
from a victim.  The GOT, she said, has no objections to the 
provision in principle, but noted that, in Turkey, a 
significant percentage of calls to the "157" hotline come 
from clients, and said Turkey should be careful not to deter 
calls to the hotline that could rescue victims. 
 
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at 
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey 
 
WILSON