Media Room - News at November, 2005

Yeni Aktüel Journal - November 08, 2005

Şebnem İYİNAM

    Natasha saved by the Call

    198 Cheated Women from the former Eastern Block were rescued by 'Alo 157' Help Line

    The International Organization for Migrations' (IOM) project is giving hope to those people who are forced to prostitution and degraded as 'Natasha' after being brought from their countries by empty job finding promises. However, according to Selin Unal, the project manager, human traffickers get away with only 2-4 years of imprisonment instead of 8-12 years.

    157's a free line which can be called also by the mobile phones from any place in Turkey in any day of the week for 24 hours. The women from the former Eastern Block are being warned at the customs against the threat of prostitution. They are conceived as the easy targets due to the existing images of being 'voluntary' and 'easy' in the fantasy world of the Turkish men. Through the posters at the customs and the information cards attached to the passports, the risks about human trafficking are being summarized and it is advised to those having difficulties to dial 157. Thanks to the Help Line, the lives of 198 women were saved. However, the results have appeared quite far from expectations. With the IOM project coordinator Selin Unal, we discussed the problems being faced in practice despite the new rules defining the crime of human trafficking for the first time.

    -Which methods are most commonly used to convince women referring to 157?

    Nearly all of those women are the citizens of Ukraine, Moldavia and Russia which are all the former Soviet Republics. They try to make a living with 30 US dollar per month 'n very bad conditions. All of them have families and children. They cannot find a job in their own countries. Under these conditions, jobs offers are made to them with very good conditions. 'You will earn 100, 200 dollar monthly; you will be a servant, baby-sitter or barmaid' told to them. They do not have any chances of investigating the correctness of those promises. They are searching for an exit point and Turkey appears to them as the world of opportunities with higher standards. When they arrive, they realize stories told to them do not hold any ground.

    - What do they face with when they come to Turkey?

    It is being told to them that they have arrival, staying costs; they have eaten, drunken and bought cigarettes. Then, they are pressurized with the claim that they have to pay back what they owe. The woman does not have any power and she has come here to earn some money. 'You will pay back to us by prostituting yourself, and then you are free. Stay in this sector if you want and make money' is what is mostly told to them. They threaten the women by giving harm to her family and by killing her child. Most of them are facing with violence and suffering from trauma.

    - Is there any connection between organized gang members and brothels?

    In our country, prostitution is legal but only for Turkish citizens. In other terms, you are not supposed to come across with any foreign woman in brothels. It is a possibility that there might be ones who are forcefully made to work in those places. They can call us too. We can also deal with the unjust treatment of a woman in a brothel house.

    - Why do you to keep two of your shelters as a secret?

    Human trafficking is a problem at a global scale. When the victims are brought here their victimization becomes internationalized because they are not Turkish citizens. As a result, the shelters are kept as a secret for security reasons. Security forces are providing solid protection to those women.

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

    First of all, the woman contacts us through the 157 help line. We pass her address to the security forces in that particular city. There is nothing we can do at that phase. We just act as a bridge. Either gendarmerie or police rescues the victim. The officers from the Department of Foreigners, Borders and Asylum Seekers conduct the first interview and then contact with us. Our friends get in touch with the victim and her current needs are identified. It is possible that she can be ill; she could have faced with violence and having trauma while being in need of professional psychological help. By taking into account her needs, first aid is provided to her and she is taken to the shelter. There is a circular letter of the Ministry of Health which states that the needs of human trafficking victims are met without any costs and the honorary return programme is conducted for them.

    - What is the 'honorary return programme'?

    Turkey provides humanitarian visa up to six months to the human trafficking victims. Within that time frame, we prepare their travel documents. We contact with the International Organization for Migration office in their home country and accompany them until they get into their planes. When the victim gets out of the plane, she is taken by the representative of the IOM office of the home country. If she wishes, she can be accommodated in a shelter in her country which provides resocialization programmes as it not possible for them to cover easily from such serious trauma.

    - How much percentage of them can adapt to their former way of living?

    30 percent of them can totally recover; the rest continues to live with this nightmare.

    - Who is financing you?

    We are funded by the US and Turkish governments. The amount provided by the US government is roughly 600 thousand US dollar. Turkish government's contributions include 100 thousand US dollar, free 157 Help Line and the assurance of coordination.

    - It is written in Zaman Newspaper and the weekly Aksiyon Magazine that AKP is the financer of this project...

    Incorrect information! It would be nice if we can correct this. Our coordination is assured by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Justice. You cannot base this project solely on a specific political party because such a thing is not accurate.

    - How are the existing laws about the human trafficking crime applied?

    In Turkey, the definition of human trafficking could only be made after the signing of Palermo Protocol in 2002. Human trafficking is evaluated according to the Article 80 of the Turkish Legal Constitution which came into force in 1 June 2005. The imprisonment varies from 8 to 12 years. However, there exist two other related articles: Article 91 deals with the organ trafficking. Third paragraph of the Article 227 is related with the crime of women trafficking from foreign countries for forced prostitution. The punishment is between two and four years. The term of imprisonment emanating from Article 80 must be appearing to the judges too long as they have the tendency to refer to Article 227. This observation is shared by most of the judges in the Ministry of Justice.

    - How did human trafficking become a front line issue?

    In the designation report published in 2002 in the US, Turkey was listed among the countries in the third category which were not fighting with human trafficking. The second category was for the countries which were fighting and the first one was for those who already solved the issue for themselves. Turkey, by signing Palermo Protocol in the same year, recognized human trafficking. When it appeared that Turkey was put into the third category in the US report such an action plan was developed and in the second report it was upgraded to the second category.

    - Are Turkey's increased efforts linked to its EU membership process?

    This is a human rights violation; countering human trafficking should be linked to that process.

    - Why do you prefer to work in that field?

    I am conducting my graduate study on gender and women studies. I have been willing to participate in the women and children protection programmes. When you look at the statistics of counter human trafficking efforts, you see most of the victims are women. However, it should not be perceived as there are no male victims. It is so derogatory to be placed into a small room with improper living conditions in a foreign country whose language you cannot even speak and not to have any control over the well-being of your body! It is a very cold face of human rights violations.

    31 Years Old Moldavian

    "Alone with six customers"

    I was born in Moldova in 1974 and have 3 children. The economy is so bad there that when a friend offered me work 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 come back and take care of my children. My friend took care of all the arrangements, the passport, the tickets, the visa, and took care of all the expenses. I was told that someone named Veysel would meet me at the Antalya airport and take me to my new job. I thought Veysel was someone that my new employer sent to help me. Instead he took my passport and took me to a village. They took me to a house where there was a Moldovan woman who told me that I'd been brought here to work in the sex industry. I said I didn't want to do that and I wanted to go back home. They put a gun to my head and threatened me, and then they beat me. They told me if I didn't consent, they would kill me.

    They kept me locked in the house and brought customers to me. There were a few other girls in the house, too. Once, when there were only three of us in the house, nine clients came. One girl took one client, the next girl took two men, then I had to have the remaining six men. One day, the Moldovan woman took me to a hotel for a client. I called the La Strada hotline in my country and asked for help. La Strada told me to call 157, the IOM Helpline in Turkey. I called 157 and told the operator where I was and that I needed help. The 157 helpline operators called the Antalya 155 police, and they came and rescued me. I was taken to a shelter in Istanbul. I wanted to go back home. I declared that I voluntarily wished to return to Moldova. All I wanted was to be with my mother and children.

    23 Years Old Ukranian

    "If not in Istanbul then in Ankara"

    I was born in Ukraine in 1982. I have a one-and-a-half year old daughter. I'm separated from my husband, and my daughter and I live with my mother. Both my mother and I are unemployed. A man told my girlfriend, who was born in 1984, that he could find us work in Turkey as waitresses and we would be able to make good money. My friend introduced me to the man and he arranged our travel to Turkey. We were met by a Turkish man at the Istanbul Airport. He took us to a store and began buying revealing evening clothes right in front of us. When we asked him about it, he said because of our travel expenses, we were in debt and had to work as prostitutes to pay it off. We refused but he said we had no alternative. We were afraid and started crying and said we wanted to go back home, but they wouldn't let us. They weren't able to sell us to anyone in Istanbul. They told us that we weren't marketable in Istanbul and that they'd sell us to Ankara. We were taken to Ankara and they made us start working. We were trying to find a way to escape, but every avenue was closed. One day my friend called her boyfriend in Ukraine and asked for help. Her boyfriend called the help line in Moldova and they told him he had to call 157 in Turkey. Her boyfriend passed the information to us and we called 157. 157 called 155 and the police rescued us from the hotel in Ankara.

    18 Year Old Moldavian

    With Six Men Every Day

    I came to Turkey for baby sitting. A friend of mine arranged the job. I knew people who went to Turkey to work returned with jewelry and expensive clothes. At that time I had a 19 moth old daughter. I was living with my brother and mother. Our living conditions were quite poor and I had to work. I came to Istanbul on September 2004. I worked as a baby sitter work a week. It is told to be that I owe 1500 dollar. They locked me into an apartment flat and took away my passport. After working for a week, I realized that the woman who locked me had fallen into sleep. I ran away and went to police. International Organization for migration helped me to return to my country. We did not have any money when I return to Turkey; I was not able to buy enough food to my daughter. When my neighbor made me a job offer in Turkey, I went to Turkey again on August 2005. They forced me to prostitute in a hotel. They knew my home address and my family. They threatened me by giving harm to my family if I struggle with them. I was forced to be with six men every day. All the seven girls were in the same position. I managed to escape. I got afraid of telling the names and the addresses of the traffickers. Ankara and Kisinev offices of the International Organization for Migration got into contact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs to provide security to me and to my family.