team will also be responsible for inspecting those areas where py cultivation is not permitted. To insure that the provincial conteams are managing the program properly other inspection teams be periodically sent from Ankara. To facilitate the inspection ess the United States will probably loan an airplane to the TurkMarketing Organization (TMO) to help in the surveillance. The rol teams will also educate the farmer on the reasons for and the to eradicate poppy growing in Turkey.

he Government of Turkey has also increased its efforts to purchase total opium crop being produced this year. Special instructions been given to the TMO which is the agency responsible for all hases and sales of opium. In addition, the governors of the provs currently harvesting opium have been instructed to assure the st cooperation between TMO, Ministry of Agriculture, and law rcement agencies in their provinces.

e basic problem in any collection system is to get an accurate ure of how much is actually planted and how much opium gum oduced. If the above system is effective, the illegal production of m should be reduced. These procedures are not, however, a subce for a licensing law. Under this procedure the only penalty is -ny the farmer the authorization to grow poppies. These steps, ver, do represent an effort to bring poppy cultivation under ol.

pefully, once poppy cultivation is brought under control, the step should be a decision to stop growing poppies entirely. To is, the farmer must be taught to grow other crops. This should e an insurmountable problem. Poppy cultivation represents only or portion of the crop land. The poppy grower seldom devotes than one hectare to poppies. The poppy takes so much out of il that there is a need to rotate crops. If modern farming methould be introduced and crops that are easier on the soil developed, centive to grow poppies might be removed.

encourage crop substitution, the Ministry of Agriculture has nted at least one extension agent to each county in the poppy ation area. Depending upon soil and climatic conditions, farme being encouraged and assisted to switch to other cash crops, ling fruits and vegetables, safflower, sunflower, alfalfa, vetch heat. A new high yielding winter wheat seed has been introon the Anatolia Plateau which includes some of the poppy ng provinces.

matter of crop substitution is a long-term problem. The Govnt of Turkey has yet to develop any particular crop that would he farmer the same amount of income as that derived from the and illegal production of opium. While there are crops that pay the farmer the same amount of money that he now derives the legal cultivation of poppies, there is no other crop which equal the total income from both legal and illegal production. n effort to induce the Turkish farmer to grow other crops, contion should be given to discontinuing poppies as a cash crop. ne of two crops grown in Turkey for which payment by the nment is immediate. The other is sugar beets.

If the Government were to increase the payments for sugar beets and encourage the substitution of wheat or some other crop for the poppy as a cash crop, the results might be encouraging. If necessary, the United States should help in this effort by vigorously pressing the Turkish Government to consider this alternative and by furnishing financial and technical assistance to implement such a program.

Consideration should also be given to the feasibility of increasing the price that the Government pays the farmer for opium gum. This action, combined with a strict licensing laws and other measures which would make possession of, and trafficking in, illegal opium or its derivatives a crime punishable by death, as in Iran, could produce positive results.

Economic factors involved in Turkish poppy growing

If Turkey stopped growing poppies completely there would be slight impact upon the Turkish economy. According to official Turkish Government statistics, Turkey's total export earnings in 1969 were 4.8 billion Turkish lira (TL) or approximately $534 million, at the rate of 9 lira to the dollar. Legal exports of opium products-opium gum and poppy straw-in that year were valued at only TL 23.6 million or $2,622,196.

Illegal sales of opium do not show up in these figures. If illegal opium sales netted the Turkish farmer even three times that amount or $7,866,588 this is an insignificant item in a total export earning of approximately $534 million.

There are now approximately 80,000 farmers engaged in growing poppies for opium production. In the late 1960's the average annual earnings per farm was between $700 and $800. Ten percent of this was derived from the sale, legal and illegal, of opium gum. This represents approximately one-half of the total annual cash income of the Turkish farmer. The Government pays between $10 and $15 per kilogram for legal opium. On the other hand, the farmer can sell opium on the illegal market for at least $25 per kilogram. Thus, the incentive is to sell to the illegal purchaser.

There is another problem. At present the farmer takes the opium gum to the Government collector in his area who is supposed to weigh the gum and pay the farmer on the spot.

In practice, the farmer is very often cheated. The TMO representative responsible for the purchase of the opium gum from the farmer frequently waits 6 weeks before he weighs the opium gum. During this time moisture in the gum has evaporated and the weight reduced. As a consequence, the farmer gets less money and he feels cheated. Under the circumstances it is no wonder that the farmer is more interested in selling on the black market.

What Turkey has not done

In 1966 Turkey ratified the Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs. Article 23 of the Convention requires that all parties enact licensing laws to control the growing of poppies. To date, Turkey has not passed a licensing law.

The principal reasons given are that domestic political realities (approximately 80,000 farmers grow poppies) do not permit passage, and that passage as a result of U.S. pressure would give the impression that the Government of Turkey is a "puppet of the United States."

1 This is the basic document controlling the legal production of opium around the world.

The Committee on Foreign Affairs has been studying this problem nce July 1970. At that time passage of the licensing laws was thought minent, before the Turkish Parliament adjourned during the first eek in August. No action was taken.

At the Geneva meeting of the United Nations Commission on Nartics in September 1970 the Turkish_representatives pledged pasge of a licensing law shortly after Parliament convened early in ovember.

It is now May 1971 and no positive action has yet been taken by the urkish Parliament. In response to questions by members of the study ission, a high-ranking Turkish official expressed strong belief that icensing law would be passed this year.

The Demirel Cabinet fell in March 1971 and a new Cabinet has en installed under the leadership of Prime Minister Nihat Erim. his government is a non-Party government and is more broadly sed than was the Demirel government. If it had the will to do so it uld pass quickly a law licensing the growing of poppies.

And while there are indications that the Prime Minister intends to ke action to control the growing of poppies, the study mission is of e opinion that there is no sense of immediacy on the part of the rkish Government.

An extract from the Erim government's program fully illustrates is. "Our Government is of the opinion that opium smuggling, which s become a destructive disaster of the youth of the world, is hurting ove all our humane feelings; therefore, due importance shall be cached to this problem. Opium producers shall be provided with a tter field of occupation in farming."

Certain Turkish legislators questioned the inclusion in the proam of remarks on opium. The full response of Prime Minister Erim not available; however, observers present report that he took a ong position in favor of opium production controls and then exained that opium production would not be discontinued cometely until the farmers engaged in poppy farming and opium oduction were provided with means of attaining a higher level of

sistence.

While it is reassuring to learn that the Government of Turkey is are of the problem, it is well to remember that actions speak louder an words.

If the United States is to solve the problem of heroin addiction at me, it must have the active and effective cooperation of the Turkish overnment, for only the Turks have the power and the authority to trol the growing of poppies. And while the United States can't the Turks what to do in this matter, it must employ every availle leverage to persuade the Turkish Government to take whatever ps are necessary to control and eventually discontinue the growing poppies.

As a measure of Turkish sincerity in acting on this problem, it is ential that legislation controlling the growing of poppies be enacted a meaningful first step. While passage of a licensing law will not ve the problem, it is required if the Government of Turkey is to ibit the flow of opium to the illegal market. Passage of this legislan would also demonstrate Turkey's desire to fulfill her treaty comtments under the provisions of the Single Convention-commitents that were made in December 1966.

United States-Turkish cooperation

In September 1966 the United States began discussions with the Government of Turkey to find ways to better control the production of opium in Turkey. At that time poppy cultivation was permitted in 21 provinces. Although production was prohibited throughout the rest of Turkey, enforcement agencies were poorly equipped and relatively untrained for this type of control, resulting in an estimated 200 tons available for the illegal market.

By 1967, as a result of U.S. efforts and decreasing world opium requirements, the Government of Turkey concluded that opium production would not be an economic crop in the future and that steps should be taken to reduce production. At the same time, the Government decided that it needed to upgrade its enforcement capabilities as well as to provide assistance to farmers to switch to other crops. To assist in this effort, in 1968 the United States made $3 million available from AID funds. Approximately $1.5 million of the loan is being used to finance vehicles and equipment for enforcement agencies and the remainder to finance research to develop alternative crops and vehicles and equipment required by the Ministry of Agriculture to assist the farmer in switching to other crops.

All of the commodities programed under this loan have not been received in Turkey. Bureaucracy and redtape have held up the clearing of the commodities through Turkish customs, with the result that much of the equipment sits around on the dock for substantia! periods of time. Steps are now being taken to insure that equipment and commodities shipped for the use of the National Police and gendarmerie will not be subjected to customs clearance.

In connection with this loan, the Government of Turkey has reorganized the Turkish National Police and the gendarmerie in order to develop a 750-man narcotic law enforcement group. The headquarters of this group is located in Ankara and when fully developed, it is expected that there will be 51 regional offices. At the present time it is estimated that half of the 750-man group has been trained and deployed in the field.

Cooperation between the U.S. Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and Turkish enforcement agencies has been excellent. BNDD agents are now in Turkey working with their counterparts on narcotics control. U.S. agents have reported little evidence of illicit production in provinces where poppy cultivation has been prohibited, and such crops, when found, have been immediately destroved.

There have been suggestions that the United States make money available to Turkey to buy up the entire poppy crop. They have been rejected on the grounds that it would result in every farmer increasing the land that he devotes to poppy cultivation.

The suggestion has also been rejected by the Turkish Government on the grounds that the domestic political situation in Turkey made it impossible. If this obstacle could be overcome, it is estimated that it would cost about $5 million to buy up the entire crop.

Another proposal worthy of consideration has been made that the U.S. attempt to purchase the entire illegal crop through the use of undercover agents. This would have the effect of drying up the source of morphine for the laboratories in Marseilles and if entirely success

ful would dry up the heroin supply to the U.S. market, at least temporarily. Consideration might be given to this expedient as a stop gap measure while other programs, such as crop substitution, are being developed.

It was also suggested to the study mission by a leading Turkish parliamentarian that a parliamentary group be established between the Congress of the United States and the Turkish Parliament for the purpose of discussing mutual problems in the field of narcotics control. In the opinion of the study mission such a group would be beneficial and would provide a useful forum for a meaningful exchange of views on the subject. It should not, however, become merely a discussion panel.

It has been argued that if the supply of opium from Turkey is shut off completely, those engaged in the illegal production of heroin would transfer their operations someplace else, possibly to Afghanistan, India, Iran, Thailand, etc.

There are valid arguments against this line of reasoning. In the first place, the heroin obtained from poppies grown in Afghanistan is low quality and cannot be produced in the quantities needed by the international heroin dealer. Secondly, most of the opium grown in Afghanistan is consumed either in Afghanistan or in Iran.

Iran has strict licensing laws and efficient collection procedures, and most of what she produces is also consumed domestically.

India also has strict licensing laws and efficient collection procedures. There is little evidence of a leakage of opium gum to the illicit market

from India.

Thailand, Burma, and Laos do present a problem. But it is a problem that will have to be faced under any circumstances, regardless of whether Turkey produces opium gum or not. If the source of illegal opium can be compressed, more resources can be applied to a smaller area. This would enable the United States and the international community to concentrate its effort in Southeast Asia.

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