VZCZCXRO0071
RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN
RUEHLZ RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHAK #0610/01 0921308
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 011308Z APR 08
FM AMEMBASSY ANKARA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 5762
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RUEAHLC/HOMELAND SECURITY CENTER WASHDC
RUEAWJA/DEPT OF JUSTICE WASHDC
RUEHC/DEPT OF LABOR WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 ANKARA 000610
SIPDIS
SENSITIVE
SIPDIS
DEPT FOR G/TIP, EUR/SE, EUR/PGI; DEPT FOR USAID
E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KCRM PHUM KWMN SMIG KFRD ASEC PREF ELAB TU
SUBJECT: TURKEY: COMPREHENSIVE EU ANTI-TIP PROJECT LAUNCHED
1. (U) In a standing room-only ceremony March 19, Turkish
Ministry of Interior (MOI) Deputy Under Secretary Alim Barum,
IOM Chief of Mission Maurizio Busatti, and European
Commission Delegation Institution Building and Civil Society
Section Head Michael Vogel inaugurated a two-year, three
million euro comprehensive anti-TIP project, "Supporting
Turkey's Efforts to Combat Human Trafficking and Promote
Access to Justice for all Trafficked Persons." The EU-funded
project -- a follow-up to the EU-Turkey Twinning Project,
"Strengthening Institutions in the Fight Against TIP" -- will
be implemented in cooperation with IOM Turkey and aims to
comprehensively support Turkish institutions in their fight
against TIP, primarily by expanding victim protection in line
with EU council directives and harmonization with the EU
acquis. (A project overview will be e-mailed separately to
G/TIP.)
2. (U) The project's implementation began December 1, 2007.
It will build on the already strong NGO and interagency
cooperation Turkey enjoys on TIP, and the impending adoption
of Turkey's new national action plan. The project has six
objectives:
-- Strengthening the national taskforce's administrative
capacity in order to make communication and cooperation among
members more efficient;
-- Conducting prevention and awareness raising activities in
Turkey and source countries to reduce the stigma associated
with TIP and to promote the 157 helpline;
-- Increasing victim identification, and strengthening the
investigation and prosecution of traffickers;
-- Improving victim protection in Turkey by strengthening the
existing infrastructure and developing new mechanisms;
-- Improving understanding of the demand for different forms
of TIP, including forced prostitution, and the development of
measures to counteract demand;
-- Establishing a data gathering network to promote a
coordinated approach to TIP between Turkey and the main
source countries.
3. (U) Within these objectives, the project coordinators are
targeting an ambitious set of key deliverables:
-- Sustained funding for the "157" helpline and the Ankara
and Istanbul TIP shelters;
-- A national and multi-country TIP information campaign and
"157" helpline promotion;
-- "Train the trainer" course for thirty MOI and Ministry of
Justice (MOJ) officials on victim identification and
interviewing techniques;
-- TIP training for 280 "first contact" law enforcement
officers;
-- Year-long Russian and English language training for fifty
law enforcement officers plus additional certified
translators for TIP "hotspots;"
-- Enhanced cooperation with municipal bar associations
(public defenders);
-- Regional and European study trips and workshops;
-- Improved MOJ data collection and enhanced regional data
sharing;
-- Turkish Penal Code Article 80 (newly amended
anti-trafficking article) curriculum;
-- "Train the trainer" TIP workshops for forty judges and
prosecutors who will subsequently train over 1,500 judges and
prosecutors;
-- Two mutual legal assistance seminars between Turkey and
source country officials; and
-- Baseline survey on trafficking demand in Turkey.
4. (SBU) The GOT's adoption of the new National Action Plan
(NAP) will be key to the project's success, Project Manager
Helen Nilsson told us March 31. Currently, the NAP is
awaiting Prime Ministry approval and translation into
English. The NAP has been delayed by months now, and there
are concerns that political upheavals in Turkey could further
slow its adoption. Nilsson, who has been seconded by the
Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA)
to oversee the project's implementation, stressed, however,
that the project coordinators are nonetheless pushing
forward. Veteran Scotland Yard detective and renowned
international TIP expert Paul Holmes is in Turkey April 1-2
to participate in "train the trainers" exercises for law
enforcement officers. A feasibility study will soon be
launched to help identify ways in which to improve the
effectiveness of the TIP national taskforce and the
coordinator's role. The taskforce already represents a wide
ANKARA 00000610 002 OF 002
cross-section of national and local government, IGOs and
NGOs, and is meeting every other month. Nilsson predicted
that the feasibility study will advise the coordinator to
break-up the taskforce into smaller, more operable working
groups to address key issues.
5. (SBU) Nilsson emphasized the importance of the awareness
campaigns scheduled to begin nationally in May 2008 and
regionally in 2009. A top Istanbul-based advertising firm is
developing a high-quality TV, radio and poster campaign.
Expanding the campaign regionally will have the benefit of
more effectively communicating to potential victims and their
families in source countries the risks of trafficking and the
services available to victims if they are trafficked to
Turkey. The 157 helpline is already accessible
internationally and the regional awareness campaign will
convey this more widely. The GOT, according to Nilsson and
Turkish National Police (TNP) contacts, is already in the
process of transitioning operational responsibility for the
helpline from IOM to TNP; funding has been authorized and an
applicants' questionnaire is being developed. Nilsson also
noted that both police and Jandarma (Gendarmerie) have shown
great enthusiasm for the Russian and English language
training. The capacity for Turkish authorities to address
potential victims in a language they can understand will go a
long way toward easing victims' fear and could lead to better
cooperation between victims and Turkish law enforcement and
judicial authorities.
6. (SBU) The EU project will aim to bolster the Turkish
judiciary's capacity to fight TIP. Some source country
officials visiting Turkey have noted that judicial
cooperation with Turkish officials does not always transpire
as efficiently and effectively as it could. Two mutual legal
assistance seminars with source country officials will be
held, each involving thirty Turkish and foreign participants.
Study visits for Turkish officials to EU and source
countries will also take place. Moreover, the project
coordinators will oversee the training of forty judicial
trainers and the subsequent training of 1,500 judges and
prosecutors on the recently-amended Article 80 criminalizing
TIP with eight to twelve years' imprisonment. In addition, a
separate Dutch and SIDA-funded project aimed at improving the
local bar associations' capacities to deliver, sensitively,
legal services to TIP victims is already underway.
COMMENT: TAKING TURKEY TO THE NEXT LEVEL
-----------------------------------------
7. (SBU) Our EU contacts maintain that Turkish interagency,
NGO and IGO cooperation on TIP is strong, exceeding that on
other issues in the Justice and Home Affairs chapter (chapter
24) of the EU acquis. While sometimes vacillating on other
key EU political and economic reforms, the GOT has reached a
rare consensus on the importance of TIP and is proving a
willing and able partner and a regional leader. The EU
project has excellent potential for success: it builds on
Turkey's strengths and comprehensively addresses remaining
weaknesses, ensuring sustainable and self-supporting victim
protection mechanisms. This ambitious project will be a big
part of Turkey's anti-TIP performance over the next three
years and we will monitor its implementation closely.
Visit Ankara's Classified Web Site at
http://www.intelink.sgov.gov/wiki/Portal:Turk ey
WILSON