US embassy cable - 04ANKARA7103

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 007103 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR G/TIP, G, INL, INL/CTR, DRL, EUR/PGI, EUR/SE 
DEPARTMENT FOR VALERIE KWOK USAID E&E/ECA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/21/2014 
TAGS: KCRM, PHUM, PGOV, SMIG, PREF, KWMN, TU, TIP IN TURKEY 
SUBJECT: TIP IN TURKEY: IOM REPORTS ON GOT PROGRESS 
 
 
(U) Classified by Polcounselor John Kunstadter; reasons: E.O. 
12958 1.4 (b,d). 
 
1. (C) Summary: IOM has passed us a summary of its anti-TIP 
actions and plans for cooperating further with GOT 
authorities. End Summary. 
 
2. (C) International Office for Migration (IOM) Chief of 
Mission Marielle Lindstrom passed Emboff the following 
summary of TIP current events: 
 
BEGIN NOTES: Comments to the Tip report - in brief; The 
Istanbul Shelter  is up and 
running at full capacity.  At my last visit in early December 
the shelter was full.  The IOM delegation was accompanied by 
one representative from HRDF and we met one live-in social 
worker (Russian/Turkish speaking).  The shelter is centrally 
located in Istanbul.  There are security precautions in place 
but these measures need to be closely monitored to ensure the 
adequate protection for both staff and victims.  There is a 
local police station nearby, but they have not been tested on 
response time in case of emergency.  IOM pointed out that 
this needed to be done asap so that we are prepared for the 
worst case scenario.  We were struck by the warm, caring, 
friendly atmosphere at the shelter.  It is evident that HRDF 
is doing its best to ensure that the victims are treated 
well.  The victims displayed warmth towards the social worker 
and HRDF staff, which indicates that there is a level of 
trust established already. 
 
IOM, through the USAID funded project will address the need 
for a shelter manager, also for Russian speaking hotline 
operators and the fact that the hotline  must 
be operated 24 hours daily, the calls will be transferred to 
a mobile number and whoever is on-call will answer.  A 
meeting with MFA on December 21 confirmed the Turkish MFA's 
interest in making sure the hotline is operational.  The MFA 
has already intervened to make the hotline number possible 
and they will intervene further to make sure that the hotline 
number can be accessed across Turkey (also they will explore 
the possibility of a "call-center" type of set up where calls 
will come in to a central number, but can be answered 
anywhere in Turkey.  Technologically this may be difficult at 
this point, but as the services expand, they want to know 
what mechanisms need to be in place to handle this). 
 
The role of the police, HRDF  and IOM  will 
be further clarified in separate MOUs between IOM-MOI and 
IOM-HRDF.  A standard operating procedure will be put in 
place that further clarifies the responsibilities of the 
different actors involved, from the identification of the 
victim, her rescue, assistance at the shelter, collaboration 
with law enforcement and her return to her home country. 
There are a few hiccups here, but we are working with HRDF to 
address them. 
 
Incidentally, a possible new trend is VOTs  from Dagestan and the Russian/Kazakh border.  As 
we monitor this trend, we will also explore the possibility 
of IOM implementing reintegration programs there so that all 
victims from this region also benefit from coordinated 
reintegration assistance. 
 
The MFA will urge the MoJ to participate more actively in 
counter-trafficking trainings to make sure 
traffickers/recruiters are tried on the new trafficking code 
rather than pimping which brings a lower sentence. 
 
Turkey has a MOU with Belarus on security cooperation.  This 
agreement was used to facilitate investigations surrounding 
the death of a Belarussian victim of trafficking in Turkey. 
Belarussian MOI representatives were working on this case 
together with the Turkish MOI. 
As of December 2004, Turkey is reaching final negotiations on 
re-admission agreements with the Ukraine.  Once this is 
signed, a bilateral agreement with Ukraine is also foreseen 
on counter-trafficking. 
 
Turkey has been actively pursuing security cooperation 
agreements with all source countries for victims of 
trafficking.  To date only Belarus and Georgia have signed. 
 
In November 2004, Turkey was officially admitted as the 109th 
member of IOM 
 
Turkish media will be sensitized to trafficking issues 
through program activities funded by the IOM USAID project 
next year.  Already Turkish media reports on trafficking. 
There is evidence of a greater understanding of the issues at 
hand and both Milliyet and Hurriyet as of September 2004 are 
respectful of the identities of victims when reporting cases 
in the press. 
 
The MFA has been restructured and a new head of Migration 
issues has been appointed, Mr. Akif Ayhan.  He is responsible 
for irregular migration, trafficking, integration and refugee 
issues.  The reason for the restructure was to gather 
migration-related aspects under one roof in order to improve 
coordination within the MFA.  Mr. Iskender Okyay is the head 
of the illegal migration control department.  Ambassador 
Ersavci remains overall responsible for this area and is 
IOM's direct counterpart at the MFA. 
 
The MFA also offered assistance to find another shelter 
facility - perhaps in Ankara, and also suggested that 
additional NGOs other than HRDF be involved in direct 
assistance to victims.  I mention this to underline the fact 
that the MFA understands the important role that civil 
society will play in combating trafficking, and their support 
will be valuable as our CT activities necessarily expand. 
 
All MFA counterparts stand behind the new USAID funded CT 
project scheduled for next year and have urged IOM to contact 
them if there are any problems in the implementation.  There 
is no question that this is a priority for the Turkish MFA. 
 
The number of victims assisted by Turkish authorities this 
year is 200 (MOI figures presented at the Adana workshop). 
END NOTES. 
DEUTSCH