>> hell and a very warm welcome to "european journal" coming to you from dw studios in brussels. good to have you with us. here's what we have for you in today's show. afraid of the future -- kurdish paramilitaries in turkey. grateful for a bed -- hope for homeless people in belgium. and excited about obstacles -- par core artists in romania. the decades-long conflict between kurdish separatist group the pkk and the turkish government appears as though it

might finally be drawing to an end. ever since the pkk declared a cease-fire in march. negotiations are still ongoing, but reaching a deal is not easy. it is not clear, for example, what will happen to one very special group involved in the conflict. tens of thousands of paramilitary kurdish fighters hired by ankara to help in the struggle against pkk guerrillas. many so-called village guards believe their job is far from over. >> he has been watching over this village with its thousand residence for 20 years. they called themselves village guards. kurdish paramilitaries fighting against the kurdish separatists, the pkk. the pkk has announced it will withdraw from turkey, but nobody here at this post believes peace will come.

association officials are visiting the guards to sound out their mood. would they be willing to give up their weapons? >> if the government takes this weapon away from the, i will go get one of my own because i do not feel safe at all -- if the government takes this weapon away from me. a few days ago, down the road, they received a demand from the pkk for protection money. that means they are still in the area. >> the village guards still get a 400-euro salary from the state, but if they were laid off, they would get nothing. >> normally, everyone has had a job training, but these men do not because they started working for the state when they were still teenagers. when they have handed in their weapons, there will not be any work for them. the government has to ensure these people have income for

financial settlement for a pension. >> the pkk has been fighting against the turkish army and the village guards for more than 30 years. now the government has promised the kurds more political and cultural rights, but that is not enough for those kurds who side with the pkk leader. they are demanding the immediate dissolution of the paramilitary village guards. the wounds go deep. after all, kurds have been fighting kurds for years. >> by deploying the village guards, the turkish state wanted to instigate a kurdish fratricidal conflict. the village guards have been waging a dirty war. many of them are responsible for human rights violations -- torture and murder. they have to be called to account for that. then reconciliation might be possible. >> he finds it hard to think about reconciliation when he walks past the village cemetery.

more than 20 of his comrades lie buried here. he says he would not be part of a truth and reconciliation commission like that in south africa, bringing former enemies together. >> that is out of the question. if i know someone was once in the pkk, i cannot sit with them and drink tea. should i do that with someone who has threatened me and my family for years? let the government do that. >> the patriotic village guards were left in the lurch by ankara. they say that for decades, they risked their lives and those of their children for the state. they want the kurdish region to remain part of turkey. now turkey is losing interest in all 60,000 of them. when comed goes home for lunch, he carefully stows his machine gun in the covered before his children's eyes -- when ahmed

goes home for lunch. when he joined the village guards, he expected more recognition as a kurd. these days, he is disappointed. his former enemies may be promised an autonomous kurdish region. for him, that would be a nightmare. and if there's kurdish autonomy under their leadership, i will immigrate, or they will throw me now. if they do not kill me first. >> so this kurdish village guard remains at his post. peace between kurds and turks seems to be nearing. in contrast, reconciliation among kurds themselves is still very far away. >> no jobs for young people -- that is currently a big problem for many european countries. for sweden, too. in the past, sweden was often praised for its cradle to grave state welfare model, but that progress of the sod is beginning to crumble.

today, one in four young swedes is without a job. the hurdles are too high for young job-seekers, say critics. companies prefer experienced staff. there is little on offer for people with no qualifications or for those with limited language skills. frustrated by their situation, some young people took their anger to the streets of swedish suburbs. >> this 33-year-old author watches images of last week's riots in sweden. he was born in iran. he sees his old neighborhood in flames now. he has no doubt about the root causes of the rioting. >> in reality, it is not about these people being immigrants. there are immigrants living in stockholm's upper-class neighborhoods. it is actually about who is in which social class. who's got prospects and who hasn't. the problem is that the immigrants. problem is the class consciousness in this country.

>> and that class consciousness has led to sections of society isolating themselves. in recent years, he says that has become more and more the rule in sweden. late friday evening in the stockholm suburb, the police took nearly 20 right-wing extremists into custody. they were on the lookout for writers, they said, with a carload of weapons. as sweden has taken in more and more immigrants and asylum seekers, the far right has grown. the weekend was relatively calm in and around the swedish capital, but violence flared up in other towns. 200 kilometers west of stockholm, rioters destroyed several cars. a firebomb set a school building ablaze. the recent wave of unrest

started here. the suburbs may be dreary, but for this family, there is still home, something they cannot always say about sweden itself. >> of course we are part of swedish society, but here, many experience daily life differently. they feel like they are not accepted. they are being kept down. it is that we here and in other districts where our immigration policies broke down long ago. >> in recent years, sweden has slashed budgets for social projects like this self-help organization. a united suburb cannot be defeated, reads the writing on the wall. some residents think politicians have given up on problem areas. >> take the school for instance. almost half the primary schoolers here do not make it into the upper secondary school. grade point averages are among the worst in sweden. in any other community, the local politicians would make

sure that changes quickly. they would move heaven and earth, but here, they do not care. >> not surprising, many of the rioters were said to come from the ranks of the jobless. every fourth young adults here is unemployed. but an independent income is the key to a successful immigration policy, as this sociologists asserts. >> in particular, our labor market policies for immigrants were not working at all. that should set off alarm bells. because we know that in a modern society, jobs are the key to everything else. >> dam it has made it out of the oppressive suburbs and into stockholm pulls a posh city center -- damon has made it out of the aggressive suburbs. not even the knots of violence

kept him away. >> while i was growing up in the late 1980's, there was a positive spirit. we have all fled from war and misery to come to this country the promised so much, and we had big dreams. when i go back now, i sense the sadness and dejection in the streets. >> she's not ready to give up. she has been through bad times and often felt abandoned by the authorities. but she hopes the riots may serve as a wake-up call. she hopes that someday she can truly call sweden her home. >> there are hundreds of thousands of homeless people living in europe, and their numbers are rising. they spend their nights in underground stations, on park benches, or on bridges. the state is often helpless, but in brussels, one hotel owners

doing what he can. when it gets really cold outside, he opens his door to the homeless, but there's one condition -- they have to shower daily and we're flat -- fresh clothes that he organizes for them. >> a cup of coffee. a piece of bread. his says you need nothing more than that to make you feel human, an equal among equals. sometimes, a simple breakfast can mean the world. >> it is an enormous pleasure, an enormous satisfaction to be able to benefit from his solidarity. >> everyone calls him monsier ben or just plain ben. he comes from morocco. he opened his hotel in brussels 19 years ago and called it my side, his oriental dream come true -- a three-star hotel as

colorful as his own story. >> hotels are not always full, especially in winter. in january and february when it is very cold, i will let people in. you see, i put myself in the place, and when they look at me with gratitude in their eyes, it is a joy. >> so he opens his doors to people in need. everyone gets breakfast here and often a room if they can pay or not. so far, none of the paying guests have complained. on the contrary. >> i think that is fantastic. if more people in the world were like this man. >> you have to be happy about it. there is so much misery in the world. >> it is always the same story -- without a residence permit, there's no permission to work.

without work, there's no residence permit. he actually had worked for years for a painting and decorating firm, but at some point, there was no longer enough to do. his boss had to let him go. that meant his work permit was gone. after six months, he could no longer pay his rent and ended up on the street. he does not talk much about life on the street. when he does, he avoids speaking about himself. he only talks about other homeless people and life on the street in general. here behind a church in central brussels, he had a place to sleep for four months. it was a dangerous life. >> you see, when there are seven or eight drugs together, anything can happen. they go berserk. they become violent. they mock everything and everybody. they do not care at all for the lives of the people who sleep here. >> the sleeping quarters are

immaculately clean and tidy. he says the people who sleep here are not drunks. no drugs, no alcohol. just bad luck in life. he shows us the people lying on the other side of the church, those whose lives have been destroyed by alcohol. things look different there. seven months ago, he met ben. \ since then, he has lived in a hotel with a roof over his head, a proper bed, and a clean shower. he will never forget the moment he arrived. >>." -- >> wow. it is better than in my own home. a bathroom and a television. when i came in here and saw the picture of a soldier, i thought, "voila.

that's what i have to do -- keep fighting." >> he sets out on with his documents. he wants to talk with no less than the president of belgium's upper house, the senate, and a police officer at the engines does not send him away but instead politely explained how to get to the visitors' entrance. perhaps it is the presence of our camera, but after a while, someone actually arrives to hear about his plight and promises to do something about it -- a huge surprise. >> right now, i'm very satisfied. i have met the senate president's spokesperson. it makes me seem important. >> once again, he has to do what so many in hotel mozart have to do -- wait for an answer from the senate and help us something in his life will finally improved. waiting, he tells us, is the hardest thing. >> no questions asked -- that is

the principle that made the swiss banking system famous. it attracted wealthy customers from all over the world, but the days of secret swiss bank accounts could be numbered. international pressure is rising on switzerland to stop the practice of illicit earnings. now the banks in switzerland have to be seen discouraging dirty money, and their customers are beginning to feel the heat. >> a swiss german border crossing. >> good afternoon. please declare the merchandise you are caring. >> feeling the heat in certification, some tax dodgers are opting to move their money past the border. years of experience had given the customs agents a sharp eye for nervous travelers. this person claims not to have more than the allowed 10,000 cash on him. the agents have their doubts -- justified as it happens. >> we found 35,000 u.s. dollars

on this person that he had failed to declare. >> this is no isolated case. tax evaders are getting the jitters. many feel they have to get their money out of switzerland now. there are no limits to their creativity. >> of course, there are all sorts of ways to hide things -- in the refining of a car, and to the battery, in the child's seat, on the children themselves. we have already seen that. >> the working hub for swiss bankers, the less dirty money they have to handle, the happier they are. all the negative press about raids and investigations have jacked courtesy's, ubs, and others through the muck. now they are trying to wash off the stain.

>> most of the swiss banks and now even the private and foreign banks headquartered in switzerland would rather be rid of the money launderers. that is not just for love or morals but because the pressure from abroad has just grown to that point. >> ubs shareholders may be sorry to lose the profits from inflated fees and illicit money, but at the recent annual general meeting, ubs's board chairman announced he would be white washing his fences. >> as chairman of ubs's board, and wish to make a clear that i favor a world of clean money. >> many customers who had valued the bank posted confidentiality were surprised. a letter from credit suisse, for example, requires that a german tax adviser about that all revenues have been properly declared, or the account may be terminated. it politely suggests on fine paper that its clients suggest

stepping forward voluntarily to square their accounts. a tax adviser and bond is spending lots of time in his office these days, talking to lots of nervous clients. he can hardly keep up with the stack of voluntary declarations he has got to process. >> the bank's approach to customers very directly and make it very clear that they do not appreciate customers who do not pay their taxes in germany. and depending on the bank, they might even suggest terminating their business relations. >> he goes over the advantages of voluntary declarations. they are simple and less expensive than getting caught, costing some 50% of the invested some, a reasonable price for a good night's sleep. >> it is not necessary to give any further explanations to the

prosecutor or the court, in other words, to show remorse of any kind. >> the banks, on the other hand, will have a much harder time fixing matters for tax evaders. ubs is said to of hired nearly 100 employees for the task. other banks are watching and waiting. it is hoped that switzerland will take care of the problem without any new international agreements. >> a complete transformation of attitudes is taking place. as opposed to the past decades, now banking circles are willing to cooperate on tax evasion issues. for decades, this is not in the case. >> for now, customs agents on the swiss-german border have to stay extra vigilant. the day will come when the time swiss bank account means nothing more than what it says -- when the term "swiss bank account"

means nothing more than what it says. >> what do you when your path is suddenly blocked by a wall? you turn around or left or right, correct? i believe most people would. or you can jump over it. well, if you are physically fit enough, of course. a group of teenagers in eastern romania love their obstacles. parkour is the name given to unneeded movement across urban obstructions like walls and buildings, and romania's many abandoned industrial sites have made it a paradise for parkour fans. >> these guys are in search for the perfect obstacle. >> old, abandoned places like this are fascinating. you never know what kind of

obstacles you will find, but there are many places like this, so our obstacles are pretty infinite. >> he and his brother and their friends are all passionate about parkour. they look for new challenges. old factories are their favorites, and there are plenty around. it all started with a few internet videos. that is where they learned the basics. >> we want to push beyond our limits to create new things. before i started doing parkour, i could jump a distance of a meter and a half. now i can do 3. >> parkour courses have yet to

be built in romania, but the boys would not like those anyway. they say the physical challenge is one aspect of parkour. the other is experiencing locations, even if it is just an abandoned concrete factory. >> the first thing i asked myself when i find a new spot is -- what kind of factory was it? what kind of people were here? what did they produce here? >> it is an old manual. >> about safety on the job. >> and the names. >> look here. and directions for new

employees. >> i feel sorry for the people who worked here. these places had a good purpose, but now that they are deserted, we can use them for parkour. >> they are already looking for the next adventure. he wants to be a sports instructor, but he is still studying. whenever he can, he and his friends go out in search of more ruins. there are plenty of them here. at one time, it was a small, industrial town, but with the end of communism, there were thousands of jobs. -- there went thousands of jobs. their mother found herself out of work. >> now there's just ruins left. >> she worked in a factory that made jam. she finds it strange that her

boys spend their time playing where she and her generation worked. >> that's life. something goes, and something comes in its place. >> when my boys to parkour here, that is great. maybe that is the only thing you can do with these old factories these days. >> at the moment, that seems to be the case. >> back in another factory, one that has just been sold but unlikely to open soon, these trends continue to pursue their sporting passion while the owner looks the other way. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal." thanks very much for watching. to join us again at the same time next week. until then, from all of us here in brussels, auf wiedersehen and

bye fo rnow -- for now.