really. we begin with the go to medal which is an annual award given by germany's international cultural organization the institute there are 3 prizes and they often own germans who have contributed to the cultural landscape of this country they're always awarded on his birthday august the 28th environment and i'll be talking about this year's winners with my colleague melissa holroyd but 1st this report about one of them a turkish writer though i. finally. got the train arrives it's gotten train station i'm already over the age of 40 hot and still excited i know from the footnote in our history books. i was murdered in cold blood by an armenian on a burning street on march 15th 1921. born writer don't want to come latest in historical and literary detective persecuted storyteller who moves

between banks and fiction between languages and countries a common is novels deal with historical violence state oppression and memory 4 of them have been translated into german the most recent one madonna's last dream is a literary search for traces from the mouth see iraq. as i started writing in germany. my wife my child and i were all tortured in turkey and we came here as damaged people. writing is my weapon. it's the only thing i can do. through writing i raise my voice against injustice. it's my instrument of resistance. ready ready coming i was born in 1957 in vain in north eastern turkey as a member of the outlawed revolutionary communist party of turkey he was imprisoned several times in. 992 he received political asylum in germany although he's no

longer a turkish citizen he's repeatedly targeted by the turkish state upon entering turkey and 2010 connally was arrested and detained for several months for his alleged role in a robbery in 1998 he was eventually acquitted due to lack of evidence in 2017 the long arm of the turkish state reached all the way to spain a comely was on holiday at the time and at the request of turkey the spanish police arrested the writer in his hotel room in an autobiographical short story a calmly tells of his experiences with prison torture and psychological terror there's a. big issue especially after the failed coup attempt rights violations and the suppression of freedom of expression have increased enormously. it's had the biggest effect this is on writers and journalists. for a start your career in the end it's turkey to lose it give you became.

a new force so many intellectuals to leave the country will end up at a dead end. job on a color is an exiled writer whose work plays out between germany and turkey through his commitment to civil society and his writing he has called for the genocides of the 20th century against the armenians and the jews to be examined repeatedly offices dealing with the past is the only way to prevent it from repeating itself. the whole roy colleague as well as more melissa as we've seen don a catalyst writing a straight lot of tension between berlin and ankara but yet he's getting a prize for cultural understanding doesn't seem to add up. yes certainly. his arrest that did come as a result of his work and his and his writings did cause

a strain in tensions between germany and ankara particularly his arrest inspiring. you can see him here getting his medal but by these other writings that we heard about in the piece to do with the armenian genocide and also the holocaust also do contribute to cultural understanding and take a stand a very strong stand against discrimination and violence speaking and writing the truth even if they are uncomfortable truths still helps in addition to his writing a country is also involved in plenty of work that encourages dialogue between different cultural groups so in 2002 he started giving turkish german guided to his in a form of gestapo prison in cologne is also spoken to groups of turkish young people about the persecution of jews and the national socialism and is lectured on anti semitism in the immigrant society and he started his rising after going into political exile yeah that's right most of his work yeah that's right he says that

he says that being in exile in germany actually gave him the head space and time to produce most of his work to write and get through his own experiences he writes from his own experiences a lot of the time even something as unimaginable and awful as being tortured got him interested in violence and that by the state and ultimately led him to write judges of the last judgment about the armenian genocide ok what about the other 2 winners who are ok so there's mongolian nc bad rose on he worked for several years as a photographer but today he's a publisher and a bookseller and a political journalist through his articles and interviews rosen campaigns for the modernization of the mongolian education system and for freedom of expression there and find someone who lives in exile like don't want to come and this is the the artist's. syrian national yes she's in grainy and boring woman who is a visual artist who lives in new york city she's been banned from even visiting

iran for the past decades her work often has a melancholic feel and she says that this she said in an interview that this is partly due to the fact that she is separated from her home country she works with film video and photography her artwork is highly stylized and minimal it centers on the contrasts between islam and the west the lives of muslim women and dictatorial regimes public life and private life her work also looks authentic witty and modernity and the borders between the say these subjects and how they affect each other how they bang up against each other she says herself that she doesn't want to make political obs bought over the years her work always seems to return to the political she's or she better known international and the other 2 and she's actually won lots of big awards and as well as the ghost of metal that's right she's won loads of big awards in 1999 she was awarded the venice golden lion for her film turbulent shoes also women of color from the 1990 s.

was one of her 1st big works that was very well received and is still shown around the world here we see impressive large format black and white portraits of muslim women contrasts femininity violence and poetry some of the women there we saw wearing the should or others had firearms and their their hands and faces are all inscribed with persian calligraphy 15 of this year's go to medal by the way is poetry in truth and i think she really hits the mark ok melissa thank you very much tony is about this year's recipients of the go to medal. we come to meet the germans were very investigates the cooks and. the locals and today she's looking at something that is very prevalent in the english language but in. small talk yes there is a kind of small talk in german but it's peppered with sometimes so is it really

just small talk to explain the norris's of wausau joking about his rachael with well with more details. yet. the germans don't even have the right word for it a german english dictionary describes it as a. superficial conversation out. germans do go very public when english speakers greet them in the street with a commentary and then walk on by without actually expecting all of them but that doesn't mean the germans don't have their own version of the key difference is that when germans and gauging chitchat they want facts they want numbers they want statistics so you arrive somewhere by car elsewhere people might casually ask how the journey was i don't really care about the answer. but a german won't let you get away that's easily but ask how long the drive took and

how many roadworks you came across that ask you which route you took and expect you to answer with road names and even motorway exits. if your journey was long enough they might even without one of their favorite questions how much did it cost to fill up your time it's just a thing here when germans return from holiday they'll be eager to tell you about 3 things the beaches. prices. should always do some basic research before entering a social situation in germany. people had to talk about news and politics should also have the numbers on the common inhabitants of their home town how would you go on to the topic of where you live your german conversation on the one measurements as in how big is your apartment in square meter the brand is going to be ready with the average price per square meter living space in your area of the city. ok let's see how good the germans are germans mobile. i just write to

you i'm trying to i'm just a little. push to try to. teach evolution hendrix's come as a school resource in trying to monks need me by clues. to the search because i'm not. i'm doing nothing when you're high do you want to talk with. her just direction. that's on. i'm on the other very important topic that you have to muster in order to smalltalk in germany as a brit i thought i had this topic down but it turns out the germans can give us a run for our money i'm talking about the what. specifically complaining about the weather it's too hot too cold too wet too snowy it's too. weather is the word for susceptibility to the weather is better. and the germans will blame

the changing weather for all sorts of ailments and a final tip to german small talk practice your draft. whatever context be in a party or in the office germans absolutely love to talk about drafts and the various stages of entering the room a classic scene one german walks into the room and says here's the sticky sticky and here they decide it's time to go it's love or give the room and. then someone else will invariably walk in and say oh seat that means there's a girl. going to be around that night grumble about getting ill and close the windows. german windows even have a special air and position. the hinge technology must be really strong to cope with the opening and closing so you see small talk is easy really drop the niceties know your numbers and have a strong opinion on assoc elation see you next time alfie does in. the

ole actor's odds of making germs can be found on our website at v.w. dot com slash culture has all sorts of stories all the ops times cultural things are around the well but not so for this edition thanks for watching and joining us of the same time tomorrow if kept for myself and all the crew here in berlin and.

enjoy the conflict zone confronting the powerful. the north atlantic treaty organization they chose as just private 70th birthday but it wasn't a happy was my guest this week here is nato headquarters is rose got so must be organizations deputy secretary general who she's now acknowledged the late show from syria splits in its unity conflicts so few minutes detail. about this issue when i arrived here i slept with 6 people in a room. it was hard i was fair. i even got white hairs that have. been jim language not off base hits me and they go punch me beat to entrap website you want to know their story my friends are fighting and reliable information. for margaret. s.o.s.

europe the european. crisis. if it's to has a future gloomy champions young champions. lead plate syrian activists from 14 countries are going to play are fighting for the dream of a united church. stand a chance for the can they say you're a. player most but i'm not even stand up to you than most and contribute to something important so coming up see a flame . of europe starts september 2nd on d w.

play . this is c w news live from berlin a political breakthrough and yet another new governments and italy the anti establishment 5 star movement and the center left democratic party agree to form a coalition government but can this last minute deal offer europe's 3rd largest economy any more stability. also coming up or is johnson's.