US embassy cable - 04ANKARA5789

UNCLAS ANKARA 005789 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, DRL, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, PGOV, SMIG, PREF, KWMN, TU, TIP IN TURKEY 
SUBJECT: TIP IN TURKEY: NEW PENAL CODE REVISIONS STIFFEN 
PENALTIES FOR TRAFFICKING 
 
 
1. (U)  On October 11, 2004, Turkish President Ahmet Necdet 
Sezer signed into law revisions to the Turkish Penal Code 
(TPC) which, among other measures, prescribe harsher 
penalties for human trafficking.  Penalties range from eight 
to twelve years of imprisonment (up from five to ten years in 
earlier versions of the law) and, at judicial discretion, 
provide for an additional penalty of up to ten thousand days 
of imprisonment. 
 
2. (U) BEGIN TEXT OF UNOFFICIAL TRANSLATION: 
 
CHAPTER 1, ARTICLE 80 
 
  (1) 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 or to subject them to slavery or similar 
practices or to 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 then 
thousand days. 
 
  (2) In the event of actions that are undertaken for the 
purposes referred to in the first paragraph and which 
constitute an offense, the consent of the injured party shall 
be deemed void. 
 
  (3) Where juveniles under eighteen years of age are 
procured, kidnapped, taken or transported from one place to 
another or harbored for the purposes referred to in the first 
paragraph, the perpetrator shall be sentenced to the 
penalties referred to in the first paragraph, notwithstanding 
that none of the acts instrumental to the offense has been 
resorted to. 
 
  (4) Security measures shall be taken for legal entities on 
account of the above-mentioned crimes. 
EDELMAN