File Photo, Reuters.
Recent US State Department and EU reports on human trafficking praised the increased efforts of Turkish authorities to address the crime of sex trafficking, while also admitting that the phenomenon persists within the Turkish state. Citing both Turkey’s large Middle Eastern refugee population and its geographical position between the European and Asian continents as factors, Turkey remains as a “Tier 2” nation in the tiered system of human trafficking, describing states which take strides to combat trafficking but don’t have adequate resources and infrastructure to do it effectively.
Turkey is host to over three million Middle Eastern refugees, mostly Syrians, Iraqis and Afghanis, who are cloistered in over 20 camps within Turkey’s borders. The camps have become a hotbed of crime and exploitation, as criminal elements in Turkish society - including elements of the government’s ruling AK party - have run lucrative human smuggling operations, transporting asylum seekers from Turkey to destinations throughout Europe for exorbitant prices. Refugees who cannot afford the fees of smugglers are often lured into sex trafficking with the promise of jobs and housing in Turkey or EU countries, including female victims between the ages of 15 and 26. Male victims are often younger, including pre-pubescent boys.
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Although Turkey has implemented some measures to address the prevalence of sex trafficking among refugee populations, including an expanded program of surveys and interviews of potential victims, the justice system remains woefully inadequate to investigate, prosecute and convict sex traffickers. Therefore, although Turkish authorities may have a better understanding of the scope of the issue, they do not have the tools to combat it. The 2020 US State Department report cited a primary cause for the Turkish government’s deficiency, describing, "a lack of experience and expertise in human trafficking between prosecutors and judges, especially after the expulsion of 150,000 public employees during the state of emergency between 2016 and 2018, restricting the skills and opportunities needed to punish complex crimes such as human trafficking." The “state of emergency” was declared in 2016 after a failed coup attempt targeting the government of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan led to a massive purge of the Turkish public sector, including government officials, judges, and other professionals, which led to a degradation in the Turkish government’s ability to administer justice.
Please pray with us today for the 40 million victims of human trafficking worldwide, including the thousands of victims which are trafficked through Turkey to nations throughout Europe and the Mediterranean region every year. FAI’s counter-trafficking initiative (CTI) is active in the Mediterranean Basin, seeking to reach both victims and perpetrators with the Good News of the One who came to “set the captives free.”
Maranatha.
