There Are 100 Thousand Sex Workers In Turkey- Survey

ANKARA (CIHAN) - There are some 100 thousand sex workers in Turkey, the recent survey of the Ankara Chamber of Commerce (ATO) showed.
One of every 350 women in Turkey is under threat of prostitution or sexual exploitation, the report of the ATO, issued today, said. Nearly annual 3-4 billion US dollars circulates in the prostitution sector. ATO Chairman Sinan Aygün, commenting on the results of the survey, said that recent situation is results of 10-year long bad administrations in Turkey. "The sex workers are not naked but king naked."
According to report of ATO named "Lifeless Women", there are 3 thousand prostitutes that are registered to 56 legal brothels across Turkey. There are 15 thousand sex workers who are licensed to work in Turkey. However, the same report suggests that several women are forced to work illegally in these brothels to avoid from legal procedures or bills. Several women who could not find brothels work as street whores secretly.
ATO survey claims that nearly 30 thousand women in three largest city of Turkey including Istanbul, Izmir and Ankara have been waiting to work in the brothels. The report claims that there are 6 thousand illegal whorehouses in southeastern Turkish province of Diyarbakýr. Nearly 6 thousand women work as prostitute in these houses.
The ages of the prostitutes vary from 15 to 40. ATO report said that underground groups and mafia also take role in prostitution sector. The small girls as young as 12 years old have been abducted or trafficked by the mafia to use as sex slaves, the ATO report added. The 2000 figures show that there are 500 child sex slaves in Istanbul, Turkish most populous city. Mostly children of separated families or girls face oppression and sexual abuses in their families have been fell prey to the traffickers in women and children.
Most of the child sex slaves are primary school graduates. Sex workers are mostly driven to prostitution by their husbands (30 percent), and by their parents (10 percent).
ATO survey says that sex workers are subject to abuse, oppression, condemnation and patronage. The poverty is main cause that leads the women to engage in prostitution, the same report showed.
There are several sex workers from Ukraine, Moldova, Georgia, Azerbaijan and Belarus who arrived in Turkey to work. The ATO report showed that some of the sex workers from Belarus are well-educated doctors, lawyers and engineers.
ATO Chairman Sinan Aygün recommended that employment of women workers in business places would be best way to fight prostitution. He also recommended the supplying of social security and aid to the poor, unemployed and illiterate women would reduce the women forced to sexual exploitation.