In 2016, the Turkish Gendarmerie General Command established the Department of Counter Trafficking and Smuggling under the Ministry of Interior to respond to the heightened trafficking and smuggling risks posed by the Syrian crisis and related conflicts in the region surrounding Turkey. Despite the large-scale humanitarian assistance provided to refugees in recent years in Turkey, the issue of human trafficking has so far been largely overlooked and the lack of a comprehensive nationwide identification framework places vulnerable groups such as women, children and refugees at a risk of exploitation. To respond to these gaps, the proposed project aims to build the capacity of the Gendarmerie’s newly-established Department of Counter Trafficking and Smuggling to combat human trafficking and smuggling and identify, protect and assist all vulnerable migrants including victims of trafficking (VoTs). This aim will be achieved through the development and delivery of a training of trainers (TOT) program, to be subsequently incorporated into the Gendarmerie’s internal training program and rolled-out to frontline officers around the country within the project timeframe; training on interview techniques and victim identification; and facilitation of an inter-agency forum on trafficking to consolidate and strengthen the role of the Gendarmerie in the national referral mechanism, with the participation of the Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), Ministry of Justice and NGOs. In doing so, the project will therefore support Turkey’s efforts to ensure effective implementation of the National Referral Mechanism and 2016 Regulation on Combating Human Trafficking and Protecting Victims, as well as its alignment with the Council of Europe Convention Against Trafficking in Human Beings.