COUNTER TRAFFICKING

Media Room - News at February, 2006

Tercüman Newspaper - February 26, 2006

Sevil KÜÇÜKKOŞUM - ANKARA

Hello! There is a sex slave

IOM Representative Lindstrom: Turkish men are conscientious. The chivalry spirit rescues the women.

"157 is the helpline set up for foreign women forced into prostitution. Yet 75 per cent of the callers are men. What's missing in the West is an ethnical response unique to Turkey."

He helps if there is pressure

"Turkish men help when they understand that the women haven't gone into this trouble by their own will. So, conscience of Turkish men is what rescues the sex slaves."

Turkish men rescue the sex slaves

IOM Turkey's Chief of Mission Marielle Sander-Lindstrom: Through human trafficking, hundreds of women are threatened, tortured and forced to work in the sex industry. When Turkish men realize that the women are forced into prostitution, they provide all the help possible to rescue the women. This is an ethical response we don't see in the West.

We trust the family values

In order to change the general opinion of the public about women victims, the Turkish Government has started a new campaign in coordination with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Geneva. The centerpiece of the campaign is the striking fact that victims of trafficking brought to Turkey are mothers. The little children in a poor Moldovan village have the leading roles. A boy speaking Turkish with a Slavic accent says the following: "She promised that she would come back; but I don't know where she is." A little girl says, "I need my mother." In order to make the film planned to be shown on the television, the children were taught Turkish. Lindstrom explains the aim of the campaign:

"The family values in Turkey are very strong. This campaign addresses the heart and soul of the Turkish people and gives the message: 'Hey you people, we know that these values are important for you. Please help us. If we cannot prevent human trafficking, there is a new generation growing without their families.'"

They killed the baby and threw it in the garbage

Lindstrom gives two examples from hundreds of sad stories:

"A pregnant woman coming to Turkey has fallen into the hands of the human traffickers. She was forced to have sexual intercourse while she was pregnant and she has given an early birth. Since the baby prevented the woman from working, the human traffickers killed the baby. The same people put the baby's dead body into a garbage bag and threw it into the garbage can. In another story, when the victim tried to escape, the human traffickers threw the woman out of the window to intimidate other girls. The woman fell onto the iron fences/railings, but despite her terrible situation, they left her there for hours. She was finally rescued by the police coming upon her screams. So if we see these people as prostitutes, it would be a very serious mistake. Our silences would support this horror."

157 can be shut down

IOM Representative for Turkey, Marielle Sander-Lindstrom, has been living in Ankara since 2004. Lindstrom works in two areas; one of them is to support Turkey's harmonization process with the EU legislation on migration, and the other one is to assist Turkey on initiating the counter-trafficking programs. Lindstrom underlined that IOM is not a UN organization and stated that "IOM is an intergovernmental organization. We receive funding from the USA and the Turkish Government. The US Government gives us about 600 thousand dollars. The Turkish Government gives us 100 thousand dollars along with the shelter houses, the toll-free 157 helpline and the coordination assistance. Since she has worked in Moldova as IOM representative for years, Lindstrom knows how these procedures take place. Lindstrom also draws attention to the fact that the significant funding from the USA will end in May and adds: "Financial sources of the 157 helpline are in danger. If we cannot find money, 157 can be shut down."

Interview:

Perceived in the fantasy world of Turkish men as easy targets by their 'voluntary' and 'easy-going' images, some of the foreign women from the former Eastern Bloc countries are falling into the hands of human traffickers and sold like commodities or slaves. While the "Natasha" image conceals the consciences; through human trafficking, hundreds of women are threatened, tortured and forced to work in the sex industry. We have spoken to Marielle Sander-Lindstrom, Representative for International Organization for Migration (IOM) Turkey, on women who are victims of trafficking, the 157 helpline and the campaign "Have You Seen My Mother?"

Why are these people persistently coming to Turkey instead of going to other countries?

Turkey has the best economic conditions among the Black Sea countries. So, it is a country of hope. Also, it is very difficult for a Moldovan to get a visa from one of the EU countries. 85 per cent of the Moldovan applying for Schengen visas are refused. It is easier to get a visa from Turkey.

How are their stories of coming to Turkey?

It is particularly the women coming from the former Soviet countries who are victims of trafficking. In Moldova and other former Soviet countries, the women are responsible for looking after the family. The men are usually unemployed, alcoholic or not around. So what does a Moldovan woman with secondary level education and a dream of working in Turkey do? She asks for help to one of her friends or someone she knows. The person she knows is generally the person who is connected to the human traffickers. Trusting this person, she hands over her passport and documents. When she comes to Turkey, she realizes that she is deceived.

They threaten to kill

What do they see when they come to Turkey?

The traffickers tell the women: "You have expenses for travel and stay; you ate, you drank, you bought cigarettes… So you owe me this much and you have to pay for it." The woman doesn't have any power; she already came to earn money. But they tell the women, "You will pay us by prostituting, and then you are free. But if you want, you can stay in this sector and earn money." They also scare the women by saying "We will hurt your family; we will kill your children."

What are the conditions for sending victims back to their countries?

157 is a toll-free helpline which operates 24 hours for seven days, and it can be called from any phone in Turkey including the cell phones. The victim reaches us by calling 157. We give her address to the law enforcement officers of the related province. At that point, there isn't much we can do. The gendarmerie or the police rescues the victim from where she is. The first interview is done by the officers of the Foreigners Department and then they contact us. Considering her needs, she would be given first aid and then taken into the shelter house. All of the needs of victims of trafficking are supplied by the government free of charge and the Honorable Return Program is implemented.

We work very closely with the police in Turkey. Last week, a European woman speaking Russian told us about her story. Last year, she has come to Turkey for a vacation. At the airport, the police stops her for a reason. Hearing a woman speaking Russian in the car, the police officer approaches the vehicle and gives the woman one of the information brochures we have prepared for 157 Helpline and tells them to call if they need any help. This is an incredible story.

What is the "Honorable Return Program"?

Turkey grants to the victims of trafficking a humanitarian visa valid for six months. In that period, we prepare travel documents. We contact the IOM offices in their home countries and accompany them until they get on the plane. After the victim gets off the plane, she is taken by the IOM representative in that country. If she wants, she can again stay in the shelter houses which run a program for the re-adaptation of victims to the society because it is not possible for them to survive the heavy traumas they have been through. The psychologists are trying hard to teach the victims what is right, what is wrong and the value concept.

Turkish men is warning

Don't the ones who return to their countries warn the others?

The saddest part of the issue is that the ones who make it back to their homes, villages cannot tell others of what has happened in Turkey because they are mostly from Orthodox and conservative societies. If they tell about their stories, they risk being alienated by their society, and it is not only them but their children will also be alienated. They keep silent; and since they keep silent, they cannot warn the other women. So the human traffickers continue their games. 98 per cent of the victims cannot even tell what they have been through to their closest families.

Who calls the 157 helpline?

We have set up this helpline for the victims of trafficking to call. However, we have realized after a while that 75 per cent of the callers are men; and these are the Turkish men who want to rescue the women they are together with. This is a situation completely unique to Turkey. Men in Turkey want to help as part of their ethical responsibility when they understand that the women are forced into prostitution. Some of them do this due to their conservative understanding, and some do it because it is a violation of human rights. This is an ethical response we have never seen in the West. The Turkish public help a lot when they understand the real stories of the people forced into prostitution. But there is still a major prejudice against people coming from the former Soviet countries. There are a lot of people named "Natashas" who come from these countries and work in the entertainment sector. But there is a stark difference between those and the people who fall into the hands of the human traffickers.

Don't the human traffickers develop new methods against 157?

Of course they do. Realizing this new situation, the human traffickers now take away the cell phone of the customer who will be meeting the woman they sell.

They will be directed towards taking care of the elderly

How much money is there to this business?

The traffickers spend about 500-600 dollars for the women they deceive. They earn 150 dollars from one woman at a time. A woman has sexual intercourse with 10 to 35 men a day. If we estimate that she sleeps with 15 men a day, it makes 2,250 dollars. If she works for 340 days in a year, this makes 765 thousand dollars. This is only a figure for the victim. In 2005, 469 women were identified as victims fallen into the hands of traffickers. The revenue from 469 women is 360 million dollars. According to the estimates, the actual number of women who fall into the hands of human traffickers is ten times greater than this number, so the annual revenue becomes 3,6 billion dollars.

Are the women solely in the position of "being sold"?

Unfortunately, the number of female traffickers is increasing. After a while, the women start bringing other women from their countries to pursue their own economic freedom or of their families. The human traffickers aim for women with children because when a mother goes back to her country, she doesn't tell anyone else what she is doing to protect her children.

Do you have any other projects?

We are working with the Turkish Government on a new project. We want to create new opportunities for these women to work legally in turkey. We are working on a project for foreign nurses to work in Turkey with the cooperation of the Ministry of Interior. For example, these nurses can take care of the elderly in Turkey. Hence this field is not one that will take away the jobs of Turkish citizens.

Milliyet Newspaper - February 13, 2006

Derya SAZAK - Milliyet Newspaper

'Bring my mother back'

Madrid DHA reporter Mehmet Çiftçi's news on the 3rd page of Milliyet on 11 February has received a strong reaction from our readers. The news entitled "Bring my mother back from Turkey" was build on the international campaign that IOM had launched to rescue women, which are forced to prostitution and of which %60 of them are Moldovan and Ukraninian. The catch phrase of the campaign is reflected as "I want my mother back from Turkey" in the news. The source is IOM. We received complaints from plenty of our readers that the news was distorted and the original text was not like that.

Güvenç Şahin wrote this piece:

"When we look at the news, it seems as id IOM has targeted Turkey and launched a campaign in order to discredit Turkey. However, if you check the press releases from IOM's website, you will see that this campaign is not against Turkey."

The catch phrase is wrong

Another reader says: "The catch phrase of the campaign is provocative for a sensitive Turkish citizen. I found the original phrase: 'Have you seen my mother?' (Annemi gördünüz mü?)" Our readers related the catch phrase that Ciftci has used to his tendency for creating sensation. They criticize him for not abiding by ethics of journalism.

DHA reporter Ciftci who we spoke with from Madrid, gave this explanation about the news:

The campaign of bring my mother back from Turkey, is made news building on a conversation that the IOM Turkey Chief of Misson Marielle Sander has made with the Italian News Agency. When the news passed to the Spanish agencies, I wrote it as I found it important. In Sander's interview, she says that the catch phrase we think of for rejoining the children to their Ukrainian and Moldovan mothers, who are dragged into prostitution, will be 'find the mothers, bring them back'. For this reason I translated the title as br'ng my mother back from Turkey!

Vatan Newspaper - February 11, 2006

Vatan Newspaper

Have You Seen My Mother?

International Organization for Migration (IOM) launched a new campaign entitled "Have You Seen My Mother?" to rescue foreign women forced into prostitution in Turkey. The IOM representative explained: The number of women slaves in Turkey is alarming. Most of these women have children and they cannot see them.

TURKEY'S NEW HEADACHE: PROSTITUTION

The report of International Organization for Migration (IOM) revealed once again the alarming increase in the number of women slaves forced into prostitution in our country. According to the report, 5000 women are forced into prostitution in Turkey every year. 60 percent of these women are from Ukraine and Moldova while two thirds of them are mothers between the ages 18 and 24.

Determining this grim reality, IOM launched a campaign called "Have you seen my mother?" The aim of the campaign is to rescue women who came to Turkey to care for their children but have fallen into the hands of the mafia. With UN's support, a short television advertisement was prepared for the campaign. The mother-child drama will be the center-piece of this film which will be broadcasted in cinemas and television channels. In the film, there are four children whose mothers are trafficked to Turkey, asking "Have You Seen My Mother?"

MALE CLIENTS RESCUE

IOM Chief of Mission, Marielle Sander Lindström, said that last year 469 women were identified as victims of human trafficking but that this number was only the identified number and the number of actual victims is estimated to be 10 times greater than this figure. Speaking to the Italian RIA Novosti Agency, Lindström stated that "The number of women slaves forced into prostitution in Turkey is worrying". Authorities underline that the victims are mostly rescued by their male clients. Women who try to escape from the prostitution mafia face the threat of losing their lives. Last year, a young Belarusian girl born in 1974 died while trying to escape from a bathroom window in Istanbul. Another 19-year-old woman slave became paralyzed after jumping out of the balcony.

MOST OF THEM WON'T BE MOTHERS

94 percent of the women forced to work in Turkey face sexual abuse. One third of these women face the threat of not becoming a mother since their reproductive organs are damaged. 60 percent of the women forced to work come from Moldova and Ukraine. Russia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Romania follow these two countries.

TWO LIFE STORIES

Life stories of two women forced into prostitution in Turkey also took place in IOM's report:

1- THEY TOOK MY PASSPORT

"I was born in Moldova in 1974. I have two kids. I had economic difficulties, and one of my girlfriends told me that I can earn good money as a dancer in Turkey. I had worked as a dancer in Slovenia before. I was planning to work in Turkey for a while, and go back to my country after saving some money. All of my expenses, my airline ticket and my passport were arranged by my friend who offered me the job in Turkey. They told me that a man named Veysel would meet me at the Antalya Airport. I thought I was going to my workplace, but Veysel took me to a country house in Antalya. They took away my passport. They put a gun on my head, they frightened me and they beat me. I called the counter-trafficking helpline in Moldova from the hotel they took me to. They told me to call 157 in Turkey. I called 157 and I was rescued."

2- WE'LL KILL YOUR DAUGHTER

"I came to Turkey for the first time at the age of 18 to do babysitting. I knew some people who went to Turkey and came back with jewellery and expensive cloths. Then I had a 19-months-old daughter and we were living together with my mother and brother. Our life standards were really bad and I had to work. I came to İstanbul in September 2005 and after one week of babysitting, they told me that I had a debt of 1500 dollars. They forced me into prostitution to pay these debts. I found a way and I escaped. But I still had to feed my baby. I believed to a neighbor whom I trusted and I came back to Turkey again in August 2005. Yet I have fallen into the trap once again. The man who met me at the airport took me to a hotel and forced me into prostitution. They knew my address and my family in Moldova. They threatened me by saying that if I resist, they would harm my daughter, brother and mother. I had to have sex with 5-6 people a day".

IF YOU KNOW A WOMAN SLAVE, CALL 157!

The drama of the mother and child who are both victims of human trafficking are spotlighted by United Nations with a short film. The commercial focused on 4 Moldovan children whose mothers were trafficked to Turkey. Children asked "Have you seen my mother?" in the thirty seconds commercial broadcast in 26 TV channels, and emphasized that they missed.

The posters which will be placed in billboards in Ankara, İzmir, İstanbul, Antalya, Trabzon also have the same message.

3.6 BILLION DOLLARS IN WOMEN TRAFFICKING

According to the IOM report, there are significant statistics on human trafficking in Turkey: In 2005, there were 4690 victims of human trafficking in Turkey.

In 2005, there were 4690 victims of human trafficking in Turkey.
The average profit earned by the traffickers from one client is 150 dollars. Women who are forced to work as a prostitute have 15 relations per day.
Traffickers earn from one person 2250 dollars per day and 765.000 dollars per year.
Despite the 469 victims identified in Turkey, the real number is 10 times greater.
The illegal profit from women trafficking in Turkey is 3.6 billion dollars.

Milliyet Newspaper - February 11, 2006

Mehmet Çiftçi - Madrid DHA

"Bring Me Back My Mother in Turkey"

This slogan was selected by the International Organization for Migration, launching a worldwide counter-trafficking campaign to prevent women trafficking in Turkey.

Indicating that 5,000 women are forced into prostitution every year, International Organization of Migration (IOM) launched a series of worldwide campaigns to prevent women trafficking. IOM stated that two thirds of these women (of which 60 percent of them are from Ukraine and Moldova) are between the ages 18 and 24, and that they are mothers. IOM announced the campaign slogan as "Bring me back my mother in Turkey".

They reached 469 women

IOM Turkey's Chief of Mission, Marielle Sander Lindström, said that the number of women slaves, forced into sex in Turkey, is reaching an alarming level. Lindström also stated that the women from Eastern Europe wanting to work in Turkey are falling into the hands of the mafia, and that most of these women are mothers who have left their children behind. In 2005, 469 women were rescued from the human traffickers and sent back to their families recorded Lindstrom, and added that 5,000 women are forced into prostitution every year.

'Call us, we'll rescue you' - Utku Çakırözer, Ankara

Moldovan Minister of Foreign Affairs, Andrei Stratan, explained that they will be fighting at the government level against the mafia groups that are deceiving Moldovan women to work in Turkey in the sex sector. Through Milliyet, Stratan conveyed to his citizens, who have become sex slaves in Turkey, the message "Call us, we'll rescue you". Speaking to the Moldovan women fallen into the hands of the prostitution mafia for economic reasons, Stratan said that "Turkey and Moldova are ready to help you. It's enough for you to apply to our diplomatic representative offices in Turkey to be rescued."

Hürriyet Newspaper - February 10, 2006

Hürriyet Newspaper

Mothers Who are Victims of Trafficking

One out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children. International Organization for Migration Turkey, Media Outreach Coordinator, Selin Arslan said that victims of trafficking are forced to have sex with men for money or to work in different areas under the death threats. Arslan mentioned that one out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children and said that 'Mothers are targets of traffickers who deceive them with fake job offers because they have to earn money to look after, cloth and feed their children.

Hürriyet Newspaper - February 05, 2006

Hürriyet Newspaper

INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MIGRATION ESTABLISHED 157 HELP-LINE TO ASSIST TRAFFICKED WOMEN FROM TRAFFICKERS

Turkish men who want to save the women that they established a relation, call the line mostly.

They tried to inform people by given booklets while controlling passports, by the posters at airports and at border gates, by TV commercials. The Mission Chief of the Organization Marielle Sander-Lindstrom tells interesting things about this line. For example seventy five percent of the callers are Turkish men who tried to save the women who have sexual relation with. But now traffickers noticed that situation and impounding the mobile phones of the men before let them go through the women that they trafficked.

Marielle Sander-Lindstrom The Mission Chief of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) as you can see at the name she is Swedish.

She has been in Ankara since 2004 and working on two domains; one of them is to assist Turkey to accommodate EU Migration Legislation, and the other one is to assist Turkey executing counter-trafficking programs.

There are two different concepts as "human smuggling" and "human trafficking"

We know that Turkey is one of the centers of "human smuggling"

This is the transit way of the people coming from Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan even from Africa with dreams of Europe.

They pay to "human smugglers" to pass through the illegal borders, in other words people willing to be smuggled.

However at the "human trafficking" people pass into the hands of "human traffickers" are sold like a good or slave.

They're enforced to work at sexual business or any other jobs, they're threatened and tortured.

We talked with Marielle Sander-Lindström about the campaign on woman victims of the human trafficking.

The IOM report; "2005: Turkey, Trafficking and Trends." betrays remarkable facts; " One out of tree women trafficked in Turkey are mother with children" They take the road to provide a better life for their children.

Marielle Sander-Lindstrom says " Turkey is economically the best one between Black Sea countries, so it is a hope country. Especially women from former Soviet Union are the victims of human trafficking"

Because she lives in Moldova for several years as Chief of Mission of IOM before coming in Turkey, she knows how these works goes on.

As she says the poverty in Moldova is 64% " In Moldova and former Soviet Union states women shoulders the live hood of the family. Men are usually unemployed, alcoholic or disappeared. What does a woman, in a village of Moldova, dreaming about working in Turkey do?"

Yes, what does she do?

She asks for help from her companion or from someone she knows.

Marielle Sander-Lindstrom says: " Someone that she knows is usually the one at the connection with traffickers. She relies on him/her and give her passport and other documents. When she came to Turkey she realize that she has been cheated"

EXPENSES $ 500 USD

According to IOM report 86 % of the women trafficked to Turkey relied on their friends or acquaintances.

By the way Marielle Sander-Lindstrom makes a little calculation;

" Traffickers spend 500-600 USD for the women that they deceived. They earn 150 USD on the women that they enforced to sexual relationship. We guess that a women have sex about 15 men per day, it makes 2250 USD. If she works 340 days per year it makes 765 thousand USD."

In other words you spend 500 USD and you earn 765 thousand USD.

In 2005 469 trafficked women defined.

Marielle Sander-Lindstrom makes another calculation,

Than she reached that gain on 469 women is 360 million USD.

These numbers are ofcourse only a small part of the iceberg.

3.6 BILLION USD PER YEAR

According to forecasts; the exact number of trafficked women is ten times of the number we had which makes total number 3.6 billion USD.

"Where is this money ?" asks the young women.

She trys to guess:

"Is it at drugs or at tourism investments ?"

The ages of women trafficked to Turkey are between 18-24.

Sometimes we find women at age of thirties.

The worst is when the ones who falled prey to the traffickers find a way to turn back home could not tell what happened to them.

Because they are generally from the Orthodox conservative section.

If they tell anything they will be excluded by their family.

They prefer not to talk.

Because they don't say anything, they don't warn other women, traffickers can continue their game.

MOBILE PHONE IS FORBIDDEN

IOM Ankara started last May ' 157 Emergency Line ' which is operational 24 hours a day.

The demand for this line came from Ankara.

They tried to inform people by given booklets while controlling passports, by the posters at airports and at border gates, by TV commercials.

Marielle Sander-Lindström tells interesting things about this line. For example; seventy five percent of the callers are Turkish men who tried to save the women who have sexual relation with.

But now traffickers noticed that situation and are impounding the mobile phones of the men before let them go through the women that they trafficked.

"But anyway this helpline is very important. A woman kept by traffickers can save her life if she can find a telephone" says Marielle Sander-Lindström.

"Think, such an application doesn't exist in any state in Europe, even in Belgium. Turkey is an ideal model on how to help to the women kept by traffickers."

Moldovan children speak Turkish; I want my mom back

Marielle Sander-Lindstrom came to interview with her laptop and mentions about another campaign in addition to 157 helpline.

It is a campaign focused on children of trafficking victims.

Because children behind look forward for their mothers.

The commercial that the young woman showed us on her laptop was very touching.

Little children are filmed in a miserable village of Moldova says "We want are moms back"

Also in Turkish.

They tought Turkish to children to make more effective the commercial which will be shown on TV.

Sabah Newspaper - February 05, 2006

Balçiçek PAMİR - Sabah Newspaper

Men's Conscience in Prostitution Sector

'I was born in Moldova in 1980 and have 2 children. The economy is so bad in my country that there aren't any jobs. When a friend of mine offered me a job in Turkey, I didn't hesitate to accept because I couldn't afford to support my family. I planned to work for a while and then I'd come back and take care of my children. I gave my passport to my friend to take care of all the arrangements and she paid all of the expenses. At the airport, a man was waiting for me. He took my passport and took me to a village. They told me that I'd been I didn't want to do that and I wanted to go back home. They told me if I didn't accept, they would kill my children.'

'The woman in this story is only the one of millions of foreigners that come to Turkey for working every year. She is a victim of trafficking; nowadays we called them as sex slaves of modern age. According to the statistics one out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children.

''They forced me into the prostitution. They kept me locked in the house and brought customers to me. One day they forced me to have sex with six men at the same time. They beat me up a lot. They were always torturing and punching me.' These sentences are too affective, aren't they?

''One day I saw the 157 Helpline advertisements on television and I called 157 from one of the clients' mobile phone. The client helped me to describe the address and then the Turkish Gendarmerie rescued me. I was taken to a shelter in Ankara and IOM arranged my safe return to home. All I want is to be with my mother and children.'

'This is International Organization for Migration. They believe in Turkey has an enormously important role about combating human trafficking in the region. They launched a help line. 157 Helpline is free of charge and can be called 24 hours. Now, be ready for the most interesting side of the calls; who mostly call 157 Helpline? The answer is 'Turkish men'. In other words, clients, who are in good conscious, call 157. They are the ones who mercy to these women who are away from their children, homes, countries and forces into prostitution. Humanity still survives in our society.

Turkish Daily News - February 05, 2006

Turkish Daily News

Turkey Builds Up Strategy to Fight Trafficking

The Turkish government is accelerating efforts to change the widespread public perception on predominantly female victims of human trafficking through a campaign launched in coordination with the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM).

At the heart of the campaign lies the striking fact that one out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children.

"We think it's extremely important to articulate that," Allan Freedman, who coordinates counter-trafficking programs for the IOM Turkey office, told the Turkish Daily News.

"It's important because we know based on our own research and experience while working in Turkey that people often think this is just about the individual. It's not. Trafficking takes place in a much broader and important context," he added.

Through a nationwide public information campaign launched last week in order to raise awareness of human trafficking in Turkey, the government is stepping up efforts to change the public perception of the predominantly female victims of human trafficking, a basic element in the fight against this "modern day slavery."

Turkey launched the awareness campaign on Tuesday in cooperation with a U.N.-affiliated agency, the Geneva-based International Organization for Migration (IOM), hoping that more people will tip off authorities and help save people from forced prostitution or labor.

The campaign focuses on the humanitarian dimension of human trafficking, that's to say, its impact on communities, families and particularly on the children of victims of human trafficking.

"Human trafficking is an international crime that destroys not only the individuals but also families, communities and children," said Marielle Sander-Lindstrom, chief of the IOM's Turkey office, at a press conference during the promotion of the campaign at the Foreign Ministry.

Some 469 individuals were identified as victims of human trafficking in Turkey in 2005 but this number is believed to be just a fraction of the overall number of women trafficked, estimated to be as little as 10 percent of the overall caseload, according to a report released by the IOM last week as part of the campaign.

At the heart of the campaign lies the striking fact that one out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children.

"We think it is extremely important to articulate that. It is important because we know based on our own research and experience while working in Turkey that people often think this is just about the individual. It is not. Trafficking takes place in a much broader and important context… the context of families, the context of communities," Allan Freedman, who coordinates counter-trafficking programs for IOM Turkey office, told the Turkish Daily News.

There is a pretty common perception about trafficked women that mixes victims of human trafficking with willing prostitutes. Due to this confusion, traffickers are usually tried under criminal articles regulating prostitution and the trafficked women are deported instead of being provided with assistance and rehabilitation.

The existing misperception also hampers efforts in the fight against human trafficking but the perception on this issue in Turkey, especially on the part of law enforcement authorities, has been rapidly changing over the past few years, mostly due to training provided to police and gendarmerie officials about facts and characteristics of human trafficking and how trafficking cases should be handled.

IOM's efforts, which are closely coordinated with the Turkish government, are bearing fruit. Turkey has come a long way in a short period of time and made great strides to combat this crime, raising public awareness and introducing legal provisions to punish traffickers.

"I think in Turkey there is always more work to be done on this issue but at this point I think there is an increasing understanding of recognition on the part of law enforcement officials," Freedman said.

"Police and the gendarmerie, particular the gendarmerie, have a better and better understanding on what this is. We find when it was a year ago we had to do more explaining. This year I think there is a broader recognition of what this problem is about," he said when asked whether law enforcement authorities were aware of the difference between a prostitute and a victim of human trafficking.

Turkey is a destination country for women and girls trafficked to Turkey with the promise of jobs but then are forced into prostitution. The vast majority of them come from the former Soviet Union, with 60 percent of all cases from two countries, Moldova and Ukraine, the IOM report says.

Women from the former Soviet bloc have long been viewed as willing workers in the prostitution industry in Turkey and all of them were stigmatized as "Natashas" in the eyes of the Turkish public, who has paid little attention to the difference between willing labor and trafficked persons forced into prostitution through ill-treatment and even torture.

The IOM and the Turkish government have been working in cooperation since November 2004, when Turkey joined the organization, to raise public awareness with a view to giving the public an accurate picture of the reality, which authorities think would be an asset in counter-trafficking efforts.

A $700,000 project coordinated by the Turkish government, sponsored by the U.S. government and implemented by the IOM, is the first major counter-trafficking program in Turkey. The latest awareness campaign is part of that broader project, whose key accomplishments include changing social misperceptions, rescuing a number of victims of human trafficking through a 24-hour hotline and opening of two shelters for trafficked women in Istanbul and Ankara.

"A prostitute does provide sex to a man and gets money for that. There is an element of choice. She is not coerced; she is not forced. Trafficking is just the opposite. Women are transported, most often across international borders, brought to Turkey and forced to work and provide sex to men. They can also be forced to provide labor. That's the issue," Freedman said in an explanation on the difference between a prostitute and a victim of human trafficking.

"Someone who is trafficked is enslaved. They are doing something against their will. They're being forced by another individual to perform an act, whether it is sex or whether it is removal of their organs, for example. They are doing something against their own free will."

"The police and the gendarmerie are identifying more and more victims of trafficking in Turkey. That is a very positive outcome because it means the more victims of trafficking we identify, then the more people get into the system, the more people we can rehabilitate and the more people that have a chance for recovery. That's a very positive and tangible commitment on the part of the Turkish government," Freedman said.

Authorities are also proud of the success of the 24-hour hotline, staffed by mostly Russian speaking operators, in the rescue of victims of human trafficking. Most of the calls made have come from clients of the women who wanted to help them, which, IOM officials say, is another sign of increasing perception on women lured by traffickers to Turkey.

In 2005, some 52 trafficked individuals were rescued through the 157 helpline for rescue and assistance. Just one quarter of all rescue requests came from victims of human trafficking. Clients and friends are playing a pivotal role in rescue and assistance of trafficked persons, according to the IOM report.

"Seventy-four percent of the calls that we get to the hotline have come from actual clients and friends of the victims of human trafficking," Freedman said. "Not only the clients arrange rescue for the victims but also the women themselves are doing a tremendous job in calling us."

Asked whether the hotline would be working when the project, due to be finished in mid-2006, was over, he said: "The helpline is funded by two sources right now. It's funded by the U.S. government and also by the Swedish Independent Development Agency (SIDA). We are looking for additional support and we're trying to mobilize additional resources to keep it going. I'm quite confident that we'll get support as it's been successful."

A commercial, featuring children asking, in broken Turkish, "Have you seen my mother?" started airing on Turkish television as of last week to underline the fact that an estimated one in three trafficked women in Turkey are mothers and also point out the human dimension of their plight.

The television advertisement constitutes the centerpiece of a public awareness campaign on human trafficking in Turkey, launched by the Turkish government in cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The ad has been designed to tap into Turks' adulation of children and the value they give to family.

The commercial is focused on four children -- aged between four and 14 -- from the former Soviet Union in search of their mothers who have been trafficked to Turkey. The children were left behind in a village in Moldova and are waiting for their mothers to return.

"She promised she would come back, but I don't know where she is," one boy says in Turkish with a Slavic accent.

"I need my mother," says a small girl.

Authorities hope that the campaign will prompt more people, especially the women's clients, to inform authorities and help rescue the women.

Most of the women identified last year as victims of human trafficking were between the ages of 18 and 24. One-third were mothers, and many were either divorced or married to abusive spouses. They were brought here with promises of jobs as waitresses or dancers that would help them support their children. They then have their passports confiscated and are kept as virtual prisoners.

"This project is a fantastic initiative to create an alliance against human trafficking," Marielle Sander-Lindstrom, chief of the IOM's Turkey office, told a press conference last week.

"Family and children are important. Turkey attaches importance to this issue. I'm happy to be working here," she added.

Explaining the philosophy of the campaign and the new television commercial, Allan Freedman, who coordinates counter-trafficking programs for the Turkey office of the IOM, said the goal of the campaign was to create dialogue and conversation within Turkey about what trafficking is about.

"The major goal of this campaign is that we want to create dialogue and conversation within Turkey about what trafficking is. The other goal is the fact that this is about families, children and individuals, so it is much bigger than just a single person," he said.

The commercial that supports the campaign has media sponsors including Turkish broadcaster Kanal D, Star TV, film distributor FIDA FILM and the cinema company Sinefekt. Other official campaign sponsors include the airports in Istanbul, Trabzon and Antalya along with Ankara, Antalya, Izmir and Trabzon municipalities.

"It's been approved that the commercial will be on 26 channels in Turkey, so we are hoping to have a wide promotion of the campaign from print and television standpoint," he added. Turkey is rapidly becoming one of the largest markets in the trafficking of women from the nearby former Soviet bloc who have been forced into prostitution, said a report released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) at the same time when a campaign was launched last week.

Profits from the illicit sex trade in Turkey are estimated to be about $3.6 billion last year, according to the report.

About 5,000 women are believed to be working as sex slaves across Turkey. The prostitution networks get about $150 per customer, each woman serves as many as 15 clients a day, said Marielle Sander-Lindstrom, chief of the IOM's Turkey office, during a news conference on Tuesday. "Women have no freedom of movement, no money for themselves."

"If they work 340 days a year, it's a multibillion-dollar business just in Turkey alone," she added. "That explains why the government is fighting against human trafficking."

Women are at greater risk for trafficking because poverty and social conditions in their home countries compel them to look for jobs abroad.

Social factors including alcoholism among spouses and family members, violence in the home and even sexual abuse have contributed to vulnerability and increased pressure on women, according to the IOM report.

More than half of the women who have been trafficked to Turkey come from Moldova and Ukraine, which has suffered severe economic downturns in the last decade. Economic growth in these key source countries is on the upswing but their economies are only now emerging from the regional economic collapse and the divide between the rich and the poor persists with sizable populations living below the poverty line and earn less than $2 per day.

Turkey is a top destination for trafficking because it is the most prosperous country when compared to other countries along the Black Sea coast and is a nation with good paying jobs. Around a third of the trafficked women in Turkey live in Istanbul, the country's commercial hub. About a quarter live in the Mediterranean resort of Antalya, underlining a close connection between trafficking and tourism.

In comments on the tremendous amount of money that has been made illegally in Turkey from human trafficking, Allan Freedman, project coordinator of the IOM Ankara office, said they did not know where that money was going.

"But it's likely going into other illegal activities. It is total speculation on my part because we do not know actually where that money is going. People say drugs, people say terrorism and weapons. It could be anything but I want to stress that I don't know where that money is going but we feel fairly confident that it is going into other illegal activities that are probably creating a destabilizing influence in the region and also possible in Turkey," he added.

The findings show that many more challenges are to come and that Turkey will continue to play a critical role in the international campaign to combat the crime of human trafficking.

"We want to become a model country in counter-trafficking efforts," said Derya Kanbay from the Turkish Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.

Kanbay said it was not possible for a single institution to fight against human trafficking and highlighted the significance of international cooperation, hoping that the efforts and cooperation against that crime would continue.

Turkish Daily News - February 04, 2006

Turkish Daily News

If only we can free ourselves from this 'Natasha' obsession:

Marielle Sander-Lindström is the Ankara representative of the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

The IOM was founded after World War II to help millions of people displaced as a result of the war. The organization's Ankara office was founded in 1991 after the first Gulf War. Since then, they have helped refugees from Iraq and Iran, coordinated aid to Afghanistan and helped millions of people. In our meeting with Marielle Sander-Lindström in Istanbul, she told me about a new project the organization has initiated with the help of the governments of the United States and Sweden.

The project is on "human trafficking."

Sander-Lindström, who worked at the organization's Moldova office, knows very well how human traffickers victimize Moldovan, Ukrainian and Belarusian women who want to earn money.

"The only option for a Moldovan woman living in rural regions, who has to earn money for her family, is to go overseas," she said. "She usually gets a passport through a friend of a friend and arrives in Turkey."

Unfortunately, Turkey, where the women come to work, is far from heaven, because the person who arranged for her to come to Turkey is usually a member of a human trafficking gang.

Consequently, as soon as she arrives in Turkey, her passport is taken away and she is forced to become a sex slave.

According to the statistics possessed by Sander-Lindström, women who undertook this voyage after putting trust in a friend's advice constitute 86 percent of the victims.

So, how can these women be saved from the clutches of human traffickers?

Turkey initiated a project last May that could set an example for the entire of Europe.

It set up a "157 Hotline" that can be called free of charge by women in these situations, so that they can be saved.

Sander-Lindström noted an interesting fact about the calls made to the hotline.

Seventy-five percent of those who call the hotline are men who want to save the woman with whom they have had sexual relations.

In other words, Turkish men are compassionate.

They can't accept a women becoming a victim of human traffickers.

Documents on the "157 Hotline" are given to women entering Turkey from certain countries at border gates and airports.

Another campaign that's been initiated involves the children left behind by these victimized women, as one third of women who become victims are also mothers.

There are hundreds of children waiting to hear from their mothers back in their home villages in Moldova, Ukraine and Belarus.

IOM teams went to these villages to interview the children.

In a clip shown by Sander-Lindström, some of the children said, "I want my mother back." They said it in Turkish and I have to say that it was very effective.

I can't understand how certain papers still refer to these women as "Natasha," at a time when such a tragedy is so obviously taking place.

The New Anatolian Newspaper - February 02, 2006

Senem ÇAĞLAYAN - The New Anatolian

Turkey joins forces with IOM to fight trafficking of women

New counter-trafficking campaign focuses on boosting awareness of societal impact

Turkey takes lead in fighting human trafficking, working with International Organization for Migration which has launched nationwide awareness-raising campaign on impact of trafficking on children and families

IOM concentrating on mothers who are victims of trafficking, as latest report shows 1 in 3 women trafficked to Turkey have kids and that illegal profits from trade over $1 bln annually

'We have to cooperate on the intl level to fight trafficking. There are tremendous things that could be done since it's a problem of communities, not individuals,' says Freedman, IOM programs and development coordinator in Turkey.

As part of stepped-up efforts to fight human trafficking, Turkey has joined forces with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), which on Tuesday launched a nationwide awareness-raising campaign on the impact of human trafficking on children and families.

The centerpiece of the campaign is a TV commercial to be broadcast on channels throughout Turkey. The ad entitled "Have You Seen My Mother?" focuses on four children from the former Soviet Union in search of their mothers who've been trafficked to Turkey. As well as the TV spot, there's also a nationwide print campaign being launched.

In this campaign the IOM decided to concentrate on mothers who are victims of trafficking, as its most recent report shows that one in three women trafficked to Turkey have children.

On Tuesday the IOM also released its report on Turkey, "2005: Turkey, Trafficking and Trends," and among the key findings are the facts that more than one-third of women trafficked to Turkey are mothers with children and that illegal profits from trafficking top more than $1 billion annually.

The report cites a figure of 469 victims of human trafficking brought to Turkey in 2005, but this is thought to be just a fraction of the overall number of women in Turkey, or as little as 10 percent of the overall cases. The vast majority of women and girls trafficked to Turkey come from the former Soviet Union, with 60 percent of all cases from two countries, Moldova and Ukraine.

The Turkish media sponsors of the campaign include Kanal D, Star TV, film distributor FIDA Film, and the cinema company Sinefekt. Other official campaign sponsors include airports in Istanbul, Trabzon and Antalya, the Istanbul public transport operator IETT and local leaders in Ankara, Antalya, Izmir and Trabzon.

The campaign includes public awareness activities, stepped-up training for law enforcement and medical personnel, and psychological and direct support for trafficked individuals. The U.S. government is funding the $700,000 project with co-funding from the Turkish government.

"Trafficking takes an enormous toll not just on the women and girls who have been trafficked to Turkey but also on the children and families they're forced to leave behind," said Marielle Sander Lindstrom, IOM-Turkey chief of mission, on Tuesday, explaining the impetus behind this campaign. "Families and communities are paying an enormous price as a result," she said.

Describing trafficked individuals as "modern-day slaves," Lindstrom said, "Once again Turkey has taken the lead in fighting human trafficking in the region, by focusing on the devastating impact human trafficking has, not only on individuals but also on entire communities."

Speaking to The New Anatolian in an exclusive interview, IOM Programs and Development Coordinator in Turkey Allan Freedman explained the goal of the campaign and ways to achieve it.

Freedman also told us about the concrete results of the "157" emergency hotline which started last May aimed at directly contacting and rescuing victims of human trafficking.

Here's what Freedman had to say:

TNA: What's the aim of the IOM's most recent project?

FREEDMAN: Our new commercial aims to raise awareness about human trafficking and realities in Turkey. We also released a report called "2005: Turkey, Trafficking and Trends." This report details many of the key trends, facts and figures on trafficking in Turkey last year. Both are related because what we've found by looking at the figures for 2005 is that one out of three women trafficked to Turkey are mothers. This demonstrates that trafficking isn't only a problem of individuals but also a problem for communities and societies. Mostly women from the former Soviet Union, particularly where women and children have to make very difficult choices, become victims because their choices are lead them into trafficking.

What we're trying to do with this campaign is to inform the public and create a dialogue about the realities of human trafficking.

TNA: What brought about the campaign?

FREEDMAN: Let me highlight a couple of things in the report that paved the way for starting this campaign. First of all, 60 percent of cases are women trafficked to Turkey from Ukraine and Moldova, with 30 percent from Russia and the rest from Central Asian countries of the former Soviet Union. There are also instances of trafficking from Romania. But the vast majority of women are from the former Soviet Union who are Russian speakers.

TNA: Why are most of the women trafficked from the former Soviet Union?

FREEDMAN: The reason for that is quiet interesting. First of all, the economic situation in those countries means that they end up becoming involved. For example, we've found that although Moldova and Ukraine have experienced very strong economic growth since the collapse of the Soviet Union in the 1990s, wages haven't changed. The poor have stayed poor and the rich are getting richer. While 64 percent of Moldovans and 40 percent of Ukrainians live below the poverty line, this is only 10 percent in Turkey. They people live on less than $2 a day. These are very bad figures. What this means is that there are many many poor people in those countries and they're looking for ways out. A trafficker will approach a woman with offers like, "I've got a job for you in Istanbul. You want to work as a waitress? Or do you want to work in a hotel in Antalya?" And the women says to herself, "I have a friend in Turkey and she's fine. O.K. I trust you; I'll be fine. My child here needs food and I'll leave my child with my mother or a friend. I'll go to Turkey for six months and return." This is a typical pattern. They come to Turkey, they cross the border, most often they go to Istanbul and the trafficker shows up, and says, "We don't have the job we promised. It doesn't exist. Put on this dress and work as a prostitute." The trafficker also takes away her passport, he bites her, rapes her, he destroys her sense of identity and she becomes an archetypal slave. That's a typical pattern in trafficking.

We care about this situation because the report shows that it's all about money. Last year there were 496 people who were trafficked to Turkey. They were women identified as victims of human trafficking by the Turkish police and gendarmerie and also after they went back to their home countries. Based on our interviews with the victims, we know that every time a woman has sex with a man, she makes an average of $150 for the trafficker. We know that they have an average of 15 clients a day. Sometimes less, sometimes a lot more -- we've heard of up to 30 or 40 times a day. Look at one woman; she makes on average $765,000 for her trafficker in one year. When we multiply that to reach a total for the 469 victims from last year that makes $360 million. And if we multiply the number of estimated number of victims, 4,690, by $765,000 it makes $3.6 billion a year. That explains why human trafficking is such a big issue. These women are worth a tremendous amount of money, and this is pure profit for the trafficker. It costs a trafficker maybe a $1,000 to bring a woman here -- to put her on a plane and maybe to get her some food or visa help. But from the very first day she's in Turkey she's profitable for him. This means an average $3.6 billion of illegal profits each year. Therefore another aim of this campaign is to eradicate this, since it's really ripping their communities apart.

TNA: How are you promoting the commercial?

FREEDMAN: The campaign has two principal media sponsors, Kanal D and Star TV, which will be running the commercial on TV. It is also being assisted by film distributor FIDA Film and the cinema company Sinefekt which will show the commercial in cinemas in Ankara, Istanbul and Antalya. It will be run in Turkish channels, and we have printed posters which will be seen in and around Ankara starting next week and on Istanbul buses. We will also print posters and billboards in Antalya and Trabzon.

TNA: What are the concrete results of the IOM's previous project, the emergency hotline 157 for victims of human trafficking?

FREEDMAN: Last May we started the hotline. We carried out an international campaign to increase awareness about it. Last year, by the end of December, we'd rescued 52 women who'd been trafficked to Turkey. That represents about 25 percent of our caseload since we identified 221 victims of human trafficking in Turkey last year through the hotline.

TNA: The hotline seems to have been a success. But I didn't see it being advertised on TV or anywhere else. Were there problems promoting it?

FREEDMAN: Actually, 26 TV channels run the ad a lot. The number of people that were rescued show the high level of awareness of the campaign. We also advertised the line in the top-two source countries for trafficking -- in Moldova and Ukraine -- and we advertised the line in Russia, in local languages. We also had posters in airports in Istanbul, as most trafficked individuals pass through there. We also put passport inserts at passport crossings. What's remarkable about that campaign is that we actually succeeded it making it high profile and reached a great many people.

TNA: Something interesting is that I heard that most people who called 157 were Turkish men. Is it from curiosity?

FREEDMAN: This was also surprising for us. We asked ourselves why all these men were calling us. The surprising answer was that many of these men are clients or friends of people who know women who have been trafficked. When they find out that the women they've been with, they had sex with, is a prostitute and forced to do it and men don't like it. The men say that it's not right and that it's not a good situation so a significant number call us. The men who call us don't do so out of curiosity but because they really want to do something. That's a phenomenon we haven't seen anywhere else in the world. It's really interesting. Some figures from last year show that 74 percent of calls for help were from clients and friends. They are calls that we deemed legitimate ones.

A typical call would be, "I know of someone who's been trafficked and I think you need to do something about it." We also get a lot of calls from people who really need help. It's important because those who know about someone who's a victim of human trafficking want to help. I was really surprised but when you start something, you never know what's going to happen. We need to do more research in this area because there were a couple of hopeful things about that: Although the men are on demand side, they also play a role in the women's rescue. This is also a very positive aspect of Turkish culture in a way. One said, "It's her job but she's forced to do that and you need to do something about it." Turkish society is protesting against it because they find it wrong.

TNA: In general what can be done to curb human trafficking?

FREEDMAN: There are a couple of things that could be done. In Moldova and Ukraine there are a number of programs that give women economic power over their lives. If women are identified as victims of human trafficking by the police here in Turkey, the police come to us and asks for help. We help these women. We send them home and give them access to rehabilitation programs to ensure a better future for them. So in terms of the women themselves, there's something that can be done. But for the families that are negatively affected by this, something on an international level needs be done. We have to cooperate on an international basis. The international community needs to come together to fight trafficking. There are tremendous things that could be done.

Hürriyet Newspaper - February 01, 2006

Uğur ERGAN - HÜRRİYET NEWSPAPER

WOMEN BROUGHT FOR PROSTITUTON ARE EDUCATED

The IOM report of human trafficking for prostitution in Turkey includes remarkable details. The most important point is that victims are educated. It is identified that; victims who are deceived and brought to Turkey and forced to prostitution ,are %7 graduated from university, % 28 from high school, % 50 from secondary school.

The other data given by the IOM report are mentioned above;

Ukranian citizens are in the first place with %31 who are deceived by the traffickers . The countries which follows Ukraine are; Moldova %29, Russia %13, Krygyzistan %8, Romania %5, Uzbekistan %5.
Victims forced to work mostly in İstanbul. Antalya follows Istanbul with %25, Ankara %16, and Mersin %5.
% 74 of the victims are recruited to trafficking by their own citizens. %9 of the traffickers who manages trafficking are Turkish and the rest of them are Russian.
%55 of the victims who brought to Turkey to work for traffickers are between 18-24, %24 are between 25-30 and %3 are between 14-17. %36 of the victims seem to have sexually transmitted disease and brain damage.

THE POFIT FROM PROSTITUTION IS 3.6 BILLION DOLLARS

IOM Turkey chief of mission Marielle Sander Lindstrom states that the profit gained from the foreign national victims who are forced to work for prostitution in Turkey is 3.6 billion dollars per year. The chief of mission of IOM, Lindstrom, claims that there are 469 foreign national victims who are deceived by the traffickers regarding to the IOM 2005 Turkey Human Trafficking and Trends. However Lindstrom states that the real number is almost 10 times of this. Lindstrom also pointed that the victims who are forced to work for prostitution are mothers and 226 victims have been done their safe returns to their own countries.

Milliyet Newspaper - February 01, 2006

Utku ÇAKIRÖZER - Milliyet Newspaper

SEX SLAVES IN TURKEY

According to the "IOM 2005 Turkey, Trafficking and Trends Report", the nationality of women who have been forced into working in prostitution sector in Turkey are mostly Ukranian and Moldovan. IOM 2005 report revealing that there is a 3.6 billion dollars illegal income from human trafficking. İstanbul and Antalya are seemed as centers of human trafficking. With regards to the IOM report, which is published yesterday, claims that there are 243 women identified as victims of trafficking in Turkey and IOM provided the safe return of 226 victims of trafficking to their home countries and these data put forward:

-The women who are trafficked to Turkey comes from Ukraine(31 percent), Moldova (29 percent), Russia (13 percent), Krygyzstan (8 percent), Romania (5 percent), Uzbekistan (5 percent).

-The cities that have become the source of the trafficked cases and the most of the victims of trafficking are identified; Istanbul (33 percent), Antalya (25 percent), Ankara (16 percent), Mersin (5 percent).

30 relations per day

According to the IOM report, women who are deceived by the human traffickers force into sexual relations 15-30 times per day and human traffickers gain almost 2250 dollars per day, 765.000 dollars per year. The profit gained by 469 victims of human trafficking identified in Turkey in 2005 is 360 million dollars. This is 10 times of total number of victims of trafficking. 3.6 billion dollars is profited by human-trafficking.

Pressure of Children

With regards to the IOM report, %74 of the victims of trafficking were recruited by their own citizens. %9 who manages trafficking process is Turkish and the rest of them are Russian. %40 of the victims of trafficking are mothers with children and because of the burden on their shoulders and they have to look after their children and they live under socio-economic pressure.

Most of the victims that are trafficked to Turkey (%55) are between the ages 18-24, %24 are between the ages 25-30 ,%3 are between the ages 14-17.

Damaged reproductive organs

%7 of the victims of trafficking are graduated from university, %28 are from high school and %50 are from secondary school.

One third of the victims are under the risk of never being a mother because their reproductive organs are harmed. %36 of the victims have sexually transmitted diseases, %8 of them have brain damage.

Slaves Of The Modern Age

IOM Chief of Mission Marielle Lindstrom states that the victims of human-trafficking are definitely not sex workers. They are forced into sexual relation or working. Those women are slaves of modern age. Also as they have to earn money to look after their children ,thats why they are under the risk of human trafficking more than others.