IHF-HR: "A Form of Slavery: Trafficking in Women in OSCE Member States"
  Country Reports

TURKEY

SPECIAL ISSUES

INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

''A FORM OF SLAVERY: TRAFFICKING IN WOMEN IN OSCE MEMBER STATES'' COUNTRY REPORTS:

TURKEY

July 2000

According to the Directorate General on the Status and Problems of Women (affiliated to the Prime Minister), women and girls entered into prostitution because of low wages or sexual harassment in previous jobs, and chose prostitution as part of their economic security. One third were forced into prostitution by husbands of boyfriends.

There are no special measures to prevent the harassment and coercion of women, or violence against women, leading them to become prostitutes. There are no measures to protect women working as prostitutes either. For example, in 1990, there were 636 cases on incitement into prostitution and this figure rose to 844 in 1994.30 Incitement into prostitution is, however, described as a crime and regulated by two articles of the Turkish Criminal Code31:

According to Article 435, punishment ranges from six months to three years imprisonment or a fine, depending on the age of the woman incited:

·         If the person incited is under the age of 15, imprisonment is no less than two years. If the inciter is a relative of the women, or adopted the woman, or is a parent, teacher, guardian, governess or servant then the punishment is no less than three years.

·         If the person incited is between the ages of 15 and 21 then the inciter is sentenced to imprisonment of 6 months to 2 years and  a fine. If the inciter is a relative, then the punishment is no less than 2 year imprisonment and a fine.     

·         If the person incited is over 21 and the inciter is her husband, relative, the person who adopted her, or a parent, teacher, guardian, governess or servant then the penalty required is between 6 months and 2 years.

Article 436 states that:

·         A person who rapes, sends or transports from one place to another a virgin or  woman under the age of 21 with her consent or using violence, force, threats, trickery or  influence is to be sentenced from one year to 3 years imprisonment and a fine.

·         If this crime is committed against a woman under the age of 21 by her husband, the person who adopted her, her parent, teacher, guardian, governess or servant, the sentence shall be between 2 and 5 years imprisonment.

Thus, article 435 regulates the crime of incitement into prostitution whereas Article 436 deals with trafficking in women.

However, Ms.Oya Aydın, an attorney and a member of the Women’s Commission of the ÇHD (Contemporary Lawyers’ Association), opposes the description of “trafficking in white women” in the Turkish Criminal Code. She claims that it is a result of the racist perceptions of law makers and notes that these articles have their origins in the French Criminal Code of 1810. The term “trafficking in white women” is not only included in the Criminal Code but is also established in public language and is commonly used.

The Passport Code came into force on 24 July 1950. Article 8 prohibits foreign traffickers from entering the country: “Those who are engaged in prostitution, or earn their livelihood by inciting women into prostitution, and those involved in trafficking in women are prohibited from entering the country”. If a prostitute or trafficked woman is a foreigner, she must be deported.

For this reason, foreign trafficked women and prostitutes cannot exist in Turkey without the collaboration with authorities, especially the police.

The Code on Residence and Travel of Foreigners in Turkey came into force on 24 July 1950. Article 19 of this Code states that “foreigners considered a threat to public safety, or through political and administrative necessity, are invited to leave country within a determined period. At the end of this period, persons who did not leave can be deported”. This sentence is applied to those persons listed in Article 8 of the Passport Code but who still entered the country.

Prostitution is legal work in Turkey but a man or woman must be registered in order to do this work legally and must undergo regular medical examinations. Brothels are regulated by the Law Number 1593 on general hygiene. Registered prostitutes have to carry an identity card indicating their work and health control. 

It is obvious that trafficking in women has been described as a crime and punished through various laws and regulations. However, brothels are permitted and pay taxes regularly to the government, and registered prostitutes that work there are subjected to regular medical examinations. In order to ensure that prostitutes undergo health control the police have the power to take them to the health authority by force, raiding any suspected establishments etc. There are concrete examples on the abuse of this authority.    

First Prostitution Case Held by the DGM (State Security Court)        

An important development in terms of jurisprudence is the fact that international traffickers are being tried before the DGM (the State Security Court is an extraordinary Court set up after the military coup especially for political criminals but it also tries organised crime groups such as the Mafia).

• In a recent case, a female trafficker named Natalia Karakuş was accused of trafficking in women internationally by organising a network and was arrested. Another 24 women were immediately deported. It is claimed that Karakus brings women from abroad and uses 50 different houses to sell them to the distinguished people of Istanbul.32 The State Security Court is to hold a prostitution case for the first time in Turkey. Natalia Karakuş is the first women trafficker tried in the State Security Court and accused of “organising a body in order to commit a crime” under Article 313 of the Turkish Criminal Code. It is claimed that she is part of the largest prostitution net in the Middle East.

Russian journalist Andrei Issaev claims that the Azerbaijani and Chechen Mafia dominate foreign prostitution in Turkey and get support from the Turkish Mafia from time to time33. He divides persons in prostitution in Istanbul in to four groups:

·         Those who rent a flat in rich districts of Istanbul like Etiler and Levent. Azerbaijani female traffickers act as supervisors.

·         Those who work in districts like Laleli and Aksaray. Owners of the hotels and pavilions in these districts take their passports and force the women to work according to their wishes.

·         Those who work in Topkapı and Fatih districts for certain pimps.

·          Prostitutes who work alone but have to pay a ‘protection tribute’ to the Mafia.

Issaev has stated that deteriorating living conditions in the former socialist countries have been increasingly pushing more and more women into prostitution and those who want to give up the work cannot succeed.