 
 Media Room - News at September, 2005
 
Aksiyon Journal - September 19, 2005
Fatih UĞUR - ANKARA
Hello 157, Save me From this Trouble!
"I am a mother of two. I came to Turkey due to economic problems. A man called Veysel met me at the Antalya Airport. I was brought to a house in a village. My passport and identification documents were taken away from me. Please save me from human traffickers! I haven't spoken to my children for months…" These could have been the last words of the 31-year-old Moldavian mother. She was one of the numerous foreign women deceived by fake job promises and brought to Turkey. She had terrible days until calling the 157 helpline set up by the IOM (International Organization for Migration) in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior. After the operation of the police, she was rescued from the hands of human trafficking and prostitution gangs to be sent back to her country. A Romanian cook, a Ukrainian mother who left her 1.5-year-old daughter with the hopes of finding a job, and another Ugandan woman also share quite similar life stories.
There are also women seeking a Turkish men to marry
Interesting misfortunate events are taking place in Turkey which is one of the destinations of illegal migration and human trafficking. The toll-free 157 helpline, established by the IOM (International Organization for Migration) with the support of the Prime Ministry and the Ministry of Interior, has helped many victims. 114 victims of human trafficking were rescued through the calls coming to the helpline operating since 23 May 2005.
Among the numerous callers of the helpline responding in Turkish, English, Russian and Romanian, there are also some who wish to marry Turkish men in addition to mothers who would like to be saved from this trap. The records of the helpline serving 24 hours with 6 operators reflect interesting stories. A Ukrainian woman, for example, calls 5 times and finally leaves a message of "save me" in her sixth call. The directors of the center reveal that the stories of the victims are full of tragedies. Hence, photographs of these victims published in the third pages of newspapers aggravate the problem even more. The operators of the helpline also give psychological support. Generally speaking, the victims who live under pressure and life threats are devoid of ways to save themselves. There are also women forced to work in the service sector along with ones in prostitution. IOM Turkey's Head of Mission Marielle Lindstrom underlines that 90 percent of the victims coming from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Russia, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan are women, and that most of the calls to the helpline are reported by Turkish citizens helping to save many victims. Women victims, or course, receive most of the attention and are known by the public. There are also men who are victims of human trafficking but majority of the victims in the Black Sea region and Southern Turkey are women. Lindstrom reports that as part of their campaign on counter-trafficking, they are distributing brochures in customs and sending out information/warning material to the Turkish embassies in Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Russia and former Soviet Union countries. She also explains that there has been 422 serious calls made to the helpline of which 150 of them asked to be rescued. While the operations of the gendarmerie and the police helped rescue 22 of the victims, rest of them were saved through the calls of the citizens informing the helpline of women who are about to be sold. Lindstrom says that they have reserved over a $700,000 budget to be spent on counter-trafficking campaign in 2005, and that they are managing the campaign in the best possible way with the support of the United Nations and the funding of the United States. Thus, Turkey is number one among the most active countries.
"We need a center dealing with migration"
Nine Romanian women, saved from the human traffickers in Turkey by the brochures and the 157 helpline, personally called and thanked the IOM for their support. Of the 112 IOM countries, only Turkey has made the helpline toll-free. "Countries cannot respond to the problems of international illegal migration alone." says Lindstrom and asks people to be more sensitive towards issues of human trafficking and its prevention.
Turkey is situated on the two migration routes coming from the Black Sea and former Soviet Union countries. The statistics of the IOM and the Ministry of Interior show that 99 percent of the victims of human trafficking enter Turkey with a tourist visa. The women come to Turkey hoping to earn money by looking after children or by working as cooks, but they are trapped by the human traffickers as soon as they pass the customs. Men, on the other hand, most often work as cheap laborers in construction and agriculture sectors. IOM directors have discovered that human trafficking is benefiting an organized crime network involving visa swindlers, fake job agencies, drivers, brothel owners and human traffickers. Nonetheless, the fact that children are not involved in human trafficking is a happy result for Turkey as there are many cases of children and elderly being trafficked into the Black Sea countries like Moldova and Ukraine for the purposes of begging and snatching. Turkey is thus seen as a fortunate country being outside of the children trafficking matrix revolving mostly around the European Union countries.
Counter-Trafficking Campaign will Get Started
One of the most important pillars of the IOM's counter-trafficking campaign will be initiated in the following days. The ongoing campaign chiefly directed towards the victims will be expanded to inform and educate the public. A public information and support campaign will begin to be implemented in Southern Turkey, the Black Sea region, big cities like İstanbul, İzmir, and the border cities. A structuring similar to La Strada working in Moldova on counter-trafficking is also being planned for Turkey.
Human trafficking in Turkey is frequently reflected in statistics and newspapers. Yet there still needs to be a counter-trafficking monitoring center and a corporate struggle to solve the problem.
Turkish Daily News - September 1, 2005
Turkish Daily News - ANKARA
Police rescue three foreign girls from human traffickers
Police rescued three female university students brought to Turkey from Moldova and Ukraine for sexual exploitation in the southern province of Mersin after they contacted the 157 hotline and requested help, reported the Doğan News Agency yesterday.
Turkey is a destination for many women, mostly from the former Soviet republics, who are seeking better living standards and job opportunities. They are trafficked primarily for sexual exploitation.
Twenty-three year-old L.C., a student from the School of Medicine in Moldavia, reportedly dialed 157 and claimed she and her friends were forced into prostitution and sold to men for 11 months by unidentified traffickers at hotels in the Erdemli district of Mersin.
Acting on the tip-off, the police rescued the girls from suspected human traffickers and arrested five, including a hotel manager. Police issued an arrest warrant for M.D. claimed to have links with human traffickers.
Officials say the human traffickers in Mersin have connections in Ukraine since, according to a bank slip found in their possession, they sent money to that country. The foreign girls were brought to Turkey believing they would become top models and be paid $2,500 each. The three girls will be deported to their countries following the completion of legal procedures.
Hürriyet Newspaper - September 1, 2005
Hürriyet Newspaper - Mustafa İNSAN
They were deceived to be became top model
Police rescued three female university students brought to Turkey from Moldova and Ukraine who were forced into prostitution in Mersin after they contacted the 157 Human Trafficking Victims' Helpline.
Twenty-three year-old L.C., a student from the School of Medicine in Moldavia, dialed 157 Helpline and claimed she and her 2 friends were forced into prostitution for 11 months at hotels in the Erdemli Kızılkale province district of Mersin. She requested to be rescued. After the denunciations, police made raid to the Kızılkale's hotels.
Suspected 5 Turks were arrested
With the crews' four days operations, L.C. Y.C. and S.B. who were sold to men by force were rescued from prostitution network. Twenty-one years old Y.C. and S.B. are Ukrainians and university students on their countries. With the operation the claimed related persons C.B. (24), a hotel manager A.A. (42), N.D. (43), İ.D. (30) and C.N. (37) were taken under custody. Police arrested 5 suspected who were forwarded to court and issued an arrest warrant for M.D.
The 3 foreign girls were brought to Turkey believing they would become top models and working in the tourism sector. It was paid $2,500 each. The three girls who were forced into prostitution for 11 months will be deported to their countries following the completion of legal procedures.
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