Recent research on Turkey's efforts to combat human trafficking were presented by Dr. Ilknur Altuntas, a judge in the Ministry of Justice in Ankara, Turkey, and a 2006–07 International Hubert H. Humphrey fellow at the University of Minnesota’s Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs
Turkey is located between Asia and Europe and, as such, is a center of human trafficking. Most victims are women and girls from Romania, Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia.
In 2002 Turkey set up a National Task Force on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (NTF). Since then, two shelters and a nationwide hotline have been established for victims. In cooperation with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Turkey launched an awareness-raising campaign to educate the population about the social impact of human trafficking. Also, a number of reforms have been adopted in the Turkish Penal code to better prosecute offenders.
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