serialize. this may have prompted turkish president or her to want to refocus his foreign policy efforts on the eastern mediterranean and its potentially vast natural gas reserves. had once been building up turkey's armed forces didn't know who swore ships and jet fighters have been encroaching on the territorial waters of neighboring countries as a recent example the turkish vessel was spotted searching for gas in a disputed area of southwestern cyprus. better one has also used arms deals with russia to turn up the political pressure on nato and he's threatened to let thousands of syrian refugees pass through to europe. what does everyone hope to achieve with his aggressive foreign policy. let me put that question straight away to yes i mean what does the one hope to achieve with the saber rattling not only in the eastern mediterranean but elsewhere as well . elsewhere meaning at home domestically. this

saber rattling and as we call it has proven to be very. domestic in this politics aggressive rhetoric this. demonstration of military power this these these idea we won't back down to anyone we want let anyone tell us what to do. this is with his follow as with a large parts of the talk population and his past think past experiences have proven that even when casualties are happening as and often syria for example what turkish soldiers are dying regularly that still doesn't. change the fact that these kinds of yeah kinds of initiatives are popular in

tacky because it taps into nationalist sentiments the taps into this idea of being a victim to international powers so am i and our john does need and do stuff popularity because he's in a very difficult position at home we'll come back to that in just a moment but let me ask you this chara you say are the one's been following a traditional course in the eastern mediterranean but what about in syria and in libya is the expansionism something different they are. the main roads for the turkish government on the road on these using regarding syria and libya is the focus on syria 1st it was never about an expansionist idea or just reflecting the official discourse of course it was more of a security issue that i could agree to an extent so in that sons when there is a war happening at their border and if you have like 4000000 refugees in your country that you have to take in

a dangerous situation the conflict situation going on over there is naturally affecting turkey's. regarding syria so that the operation could be seen when they extend within that perspective when it comes to libya that's a whole another story both. say that as it was born to earlier. metzer offered you of political influence in the region turkey has been pushing for it slightly in the from jirga fees. sometimes it's getting what it wants sometimes it's not as successful as it hopes let's talk a little bit about the european role in all of this because as all of you have mentioned europe has tried to mediate to some degree particularly uncle americal because. germany does now have the european union's rotating presidency how

effective has that been and does europe face in some ways conflicting loyalties by virtue of the fact that greece is not only a nato ally but also a member of the e.u. whereas turkey of course is only a nato ally well. i mean germany tried to do like a service in libya and also in eastern mediterranean as well too i mean germany was a country that intelligent conference on the be as well true and unfortunately it hasn't produced much one of the major reason for it is that it hasn't produced more because you have and in european proxy war taking place in libya as well to be been friends and italy's in a sense that you know we used to think was a proxy war in the form of the middle east some powers but the in libya you have like basically france and italy supporting different sides of the telling position is much closer to to the turkish positioned the french position was there going to visit the only in line with egypt and united arab emirates unlikeness in support of

the or loss. in the military and i think the prospect is prospects for some form of success is higher for a very simple reason we're not talking about the european neighborhood we're talking about europe so a conflict not in european neighborhood a conflict within the euro because right now once again you have like you know treat european countries that has been deeply involved france cyprus and agrees but also like turkey which is that the nature of member but at same time and i mean still officially and you can do that even though it's going nowhere so if the trouble is if germany plays the role of the e.u. member rather than and mediator then you know it will have less influence to bring the sides to table because it will be part of the. trouble so i think in these got airfare a major role is a great service that germany can do party given the fact right now there's a void left by the u.s. and no one is going to step in so very briefly if you would sanctions lot of talk

right now about possibly imposing sanctions on turkey or would that work with they be effective and do you think it will happen briefly while i think it it's on like the to have happen but even if it happens if much change the behavior of draghi and . i think is if you will just like you know. basically you know. it's. on his own strategic yes well let me ask you this. we just heard from once more about the enormous long running ambivalence that the european union has had about moving forward on any form of accession membership for turkey how has that pushed turkey into this confrontational stance essentially pushed turkey out of the western orbit and i mean the very shot and that is yes it has done so for a very long time because i don't know if a past decade probably even longer no one in turkey believes though

that the european union has any interest and accepting them so they lost interest and that a long time ago i would say politically but also in the minds of the people let us take a very quick look at the domestic situation in turkey after one and is a cape a party have engaged in severe repression at home particularly when confronted with perceived threats. after the failed coup attempt against him in july 26th team president aired one had tens of thousands of dissidents arrested and declared terrorists. also detained $170.00 domestic and foreign journalists liked an easy job a german citizen who was imprisoned without charges for an entire year. better won almost seems to untie going to europe and the west deliberately his a.k.p.

is considering leaving an international convention for combating violence against women as well as lifting penalties on sexual abuse of underage girls if a marriage results in july he had to hug you so fear in istanbul converted back to a functioning mosque at one time that was christendom's largest church and for decades a museum. step by step he's been moving away from the secular ideals of modern turkey's founder come out a turk is one pushing turkey towards an islamic dictatorship. so yes i mean you told us that these symbolic gestures things like converting the hog hagia sophia mosque are in fact a sign to distract from domestic problems what's the biggest domestic challenge that one currently faces the financial crisis obviously that the country has been suffering from for many years that's getting less the talk is at a historic low unemployment is rising food prices are going up and cause everyone

else corona the koran the crisis has made things wow us you say saber rattling is sometimes quite effective at home and generating support what about curtailing women's rights. are you asking about it it's a fact if. it depends on who you are who you ask. thank for the public comes of a tive parts of the population. this whole you stumble convention is seen as something that diminishes families and you know conservative ideas about how women should live so. yeah i think if you ask women i'm sure they see it differently so it's a president there once playing to his base. how's domestic repression worked to silence the political opposition and what if anything could actually topple anyone

from power. i think in turkey the main problem is not with the economy although the economy is one of the biggest problems i think the government's biggest problem is to actually remain in power and all the developments that we've seen in the past 5 years are actually a reflection off the government facing the consequences of wrong policy moves and trying to recover it with taking some steps further in order to be able to remain in power we've seen that with recently and now we're seeing that with greece so nationalism is always an easy card to play and that's what that one thing is so let me come back to our. ask you how far you think are the one will go and who will be the loser turkey or europe. well i mean if they will face each other the book touches the ball so will we be the loser because in that i'm the turkey is that can one of the major parts of europe really do on migration on charizard like no major

economy and like you know also the major and the same for europe as well. as biggest economy investment i mean the largest market for truckee i mean there's like around 6000000 troops maybe you'll have people of turkey in this god there is if you're trying to play song no one is going to look at the you know once the winner thank you very much to all of you and thanks to you out there see you soon. for.

negative news reports. during the bush years death and the damage to 27 feet of horrible news it's definitely not helpful constant stream of bad news that leads to stress and anxiety. what can we do about

a. good shooting. in 30 minutes on d w. they've been robbed of their soul and that's what a people experiences when their heritage is taken from them and. countless cultural riches were brutally stolen from africa and carted off to europe by colonialists. each artifact has blood on it from the mines that have yet to heal. what should be done with the stone or from africa. this is being hotly debated on both continents. stolen soul store september 7th on g.w. . scott volunteers the guy. chancellor on the american made

a famous claim to show some of us when germany opened its borders to refugees led 5 years later we take an in-depth look at what happened then and. what poland play and the consequences that they're still facing today playing. our topic on d.w. new. life on earth. coming to. joy coincidence. that sam previously it's earth was just a messy chemistry lab and i want to talk. to one of the impossible but the 2 suited up for us from the creation of our solar system which our planet is a bit like winning the lottery but there is a little good news to. what he 1st war to me start september 18th

on d w. play . this is d w news live from berlin nato calls for cooperation from russia in the poisoning of russian dissident alexina of all main germany is certain now that the politician was poisoned with a toxic nerve agent produced in the soviet era nato says that the case for pires a joint international response. also coming up signs of life beneath the rubble of

a collapsed building in beirut 50 rescue workers a new urgency if anyone has survived for a month after the.