From: briant@epsilon.eecs.nwu.edu
Subject: TURKEY REVIVES SLAVE TRADE (EXCLUSIVE)
Originator: briant@epsilon.eecs.nwu.edu
Organization: EECS
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 14:48:58 GMT
Expires: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 05:00:00 GMT

SOURCE: THE EUROPEAN 6-9 AUGUST 1992
 
Thousands of east Europeans desperate for hard currency are flocking to
in modern day "slave markets". Europe's new slave workers are young
Russians, Romanians and Poles illegally employed to work on construction
sites in Istanbul.
They are brought in by the truckload, deprived of their passports and
only receive wages as low as one-third of those of Turkey's poorest labourers,
after they have paid a commission to the agencies organising the work.
An estimated 5,000 eastern Europeans have already arrived in Istanbul this
year and thre number is expected to double in the next few months.
The slaveworkers are recruited by newspaper advertisements and agents acting
on behalf of Turkish employers. The enticement is foreign currency and the
chance to work at a time when there is literally nothing available at home.
When they arrive in Istanbul, they find themselves up for sale to the
"cattle markets", where teeth are inspected and muscles probed by foremen
checking that the labourers are strong and healthy.
Turkey, which has undergone a dramatic economic recovery, has become the most
popular labour market for the Iron Curtain countries because there are no
restrictions on visitors.
Ironically, the market is run mainly by the workers' own compatriots-principally
Romanians and Poles who settled in Turkey years ago.
Many workers are highly qualified with university degrees, while others have
skills they can not sell at home. Inflation in eastern Europe is so high that
the earnings of teachers, such as Romanian Manole Viorel, are worthless. Viorel,
28, has not had a bath since he arrived in Istanbul 45 days ago. He sleeps in
the open air at the rat-infested construction site where he works . But he
considers himself "lucky" to have the job-despite the humiliation and the lack
of sanitation.
"I was a teacher in Bucharest. My salary wasn't enough to support my family.
Although I had heard about the working conditions, it is still hard to sleep at
a building site with insects and rats all around. But I have to continue
working for my two-year-old son and my wife," he said.
The average daily wage of manual labourer in Turkey is 80,000 to 100,000 lire
(Ecu 8.5-10.7). East European labourers earn less than Lre 30,000 (Ecu 3.2).
Invariably the agents keep their passports-in theory illegal- so that the worker
cannot leave. The exploitation of unskilled labourers is an ironic reversal of
fortunes for a country which until recently exported much of its labour to
Germany and accounts of fear and discrimination echo stories of Turkish
"guest workers" exploited in western Germany for more than a generation.
Anne-Marie Sharmen of the London-based Anti-Slavery Society said she was not
surprised about the Istanbul slave market...
Police in Istanbul told The European that they had not received any specific
reports of such exploitation. But a spokesperson in the "foreigners" department
at police headquarters said that any complaints would be pursued.

Xref: sparky soc.culture.europe:7883 eunet.politics:1142 soc.culture.australian:4093