>> hello and welcome to focus on europe. i'm michelle henery. thank you for joining us. we've got a special program for you today where we take a closer look at how fear now dominates the lives of people across the continent. from fear of terrorism and divided societies to fear of the loss of democracy. the recent attempted coup in turkey quickly collapsed with soldiers surrendering their weapons. a short time later peace had returned to istanbul's taksim square with every day normality resuming. but whether democracy is safe now in turkey remains doubtful, say civil rights activists. turkey is in the midst of picking up the pieces from a failed military coup. fingers continue to be pointed

at who may have masterminded the effort. turkey's military has long viewed itself as the guardian of secular democracy, having already intervened in three previous coups since the sixties. we went to istanbul to speak with a man who lived through the last successful coup. he warns that in events like these, no one wins. >> last week's dramatic events have brought back memories. celalettin can remembers the military coup of 1980 very well. he was a student in istanbul at the time. to this day, he is haunted by the brutality he experienced. >> this is where they arrested me. i was wedged between two cars. the police jumped out, put a sack over me, and brought me to the police station. there the so-called interrogation began. they beat the soles of my feet, administered electric shocks,

deprived me of sleep and shouted abuse at me. that was for two days. >> some 650,000 people were arrested in the course of a few days. they included left-wing activists like can, liberal thinkers and many kurds. the putsch took place on spetember 12th, 1980, following a period of unrest between left and right-wing groups. martial law was declared. istanbul's taksim square became a symbol of the coup. last week, this square was once again occupied by soldiers determined to overthrow the government and seize power. days later, people stop to take photographs here. thousands of akp supporters answered erdogan's call to take to the streets to defeat the coup. >> we love our government and our president. we are strong together. our lives will now go on as normal. but we're coming out of this stronger. we won't let anyone bring us down.

>> celalettin can is glad the coup was a failure. but he doesn't share the joy of erdogan's supporters either. he says this time, it's a battle between two authoritarian forces. in his view, that wasn't the case before. >> 36 years ago, the coup was not against the government but against a large portion of society, against those who were fighting for an emancipated and democratic future. regardless of whether these people were students or business people. the army wanted to stop this development. >> grief and defiance as the civilian victims of the attempted coup are laid to rest. "allah is great" mourners cry. some accuse religious authorities of using the funerals as an opportunity to display their might. in the cities, akp supporters

have been patrolling the streets at night. >> soldiers should never again use their weapons against their own people. even if they couldn't be held accountable, they will never escape punishment from allah. >> critics of the government fear the failed coup could cause islamist forces to rally around erdogan, further strengthening his grip on power. >> the attempted coup will make it easier for erdogan to impose his vision of an authoritarian, autocratic system. that's almost as bad for democracy as a military coup. >> for years, can has been fighting for the generals involved in the 1980 coup, as well as the authorities who tortured him, to face justice. but to no avail. still, for him, a military coup is never the answer.

>> whatever side you're on, a military coup is never a good thing. no matter what it's against, in the end it's always the progressve forces and the kurds who pay the price. >> to this day, celalettin can continues to fight for his beliefs, opposing autocratic forces and the military. he spent 19 years in prison following the putsch of 1980. but he believes a military coup can never be the answer. not even in turkey. >> for many years, it has been a crime in turkey to insult the president. but it was rarely enforced before president erdogan took office in 2014. since then, almost 2000 criminal cases have been lodged against members of the public, from journalists and politicians to school children. now in the wake of the failed coup, critics fear a full scale

assault on the freedom of expression. his opponents say that what would be considered normal criticism of a leader in another country, could lead to immediate arrest and criminal proceedings in turkey. >> erdogan and gollum. the comparison between the turkish leader and the character from the "lord of the rings" is popular among young opposition members. but the president isn't laughing and is quick to take offense. the media is under pressure, says 17-year-old mehmet. >> people get into trouble for voicing even the slightest critique. magazines are punished for their covers. tv stations are closed down. turkey has moved to one-man rule. >> mehmet knows what he's talking about. he has first-hand experience of the consequences that follow public criticism of the president. mehmet lives in the central city

of konya. with a population of 2 million, it's a stronghold of conservative islam. the party co-founded by erdogan, the akp, won 74% of the vote in last november's election here. by contrast, the opposition social democratic chp took just 9%. this is the climate in which mehmet gave a speech in the city center in december 2014, in his role as member of the chp youth branch. >> we do not see erdogan as the head of state. we see him as the head of corruption, theft and extortion. >> i was arrested the next morning. i got to school at 7:30 and the police were there by 9:00. they wanted to call my mother.

i'm an only child, i didn't want her to be worried about me. so i begged the officers not to call her, but they said they had to. she was extremely worried. and that was my biggest problem. not the days i spent in custody, it was my mother's tears. >> there was widespread media coverage of mehmet's release when he was set free two days late his mother was there to welcome him. then he turned to the cameras. he said, we are not terrorists. but prosecutors filed charges against mehmet, who was 16 at the time, demanding a four-year prison sentence. mehmet was soon expelled from school. turkish legal expert ibrahim kaboglu questions the prosecution's case against mehmet. he says police didn't have the right to arrest the boy, and the government wasn't entitled to order proceedings against him. the prosecution's investigations

also constitute a statuatory violation. he says this amounts to an interference with the judicial independence guaranteed by turkey's constitution. >> the problem in the case of the boy from konya lies in constitutional violations first by the executive authority, then the legislative and finally the juicial authorities. >> the head of state himself, says kaboglu, has increasingly been showing disregard for the constitution. >> in institutions like the presidential office, which have a duty to uphold the constitution, violations against it have become the norm. >> we're driving through konya with mehmet. he points out his former school. he doesn't want to get out. he did that once with a camera team. they immediately attracted passersby, and there was trouble.

he tells us the principal himself made it clear he had to leave school after his time in investigative custody. last fall, mehmet was handed a three-year suspended sentence of 11 months in prison. he got his diploma at another school. now he's trying to look to the future. >> i want to study law. yesterday i was arrested. tomorrow it could be someone else. i have a criminal record, so i won't be able to become a prosecutor or judge, but at least i can fight injustice as a lawyer. >> these days it seems certain turkey will need good attorneys for years to come. >> since the failed coup, several thousand suspects have been detained. including tens of thousands of civil servants, especially from the department of the interior and the ministry of education who were suspended and had to vacate their seats. the french celebrate bastille

day much like the americans observe the 4th of july. with family, food, and of course, fireworks. but on that fateful evening, more than 80 people were killed and hundreds injured when a young man radicalised by the islamic state drove a truck into a crowd in france's southern port city of nice. the driver ploughed on for 2 kilometers along the promenade des anglais, turning this stunning stretch of the mediterranean coast into a grim and macabre scene. our reporter went there and spoke with the local community who shared their hopes that this latest attack would not further divide society. >> alex giroud is trying to get his restaurant back in order. the balthazar has been closed since the bastille day attack when over a hundred people sought refuge here. alex and his sister rebecca are finding it hard to deal with the constant media coverage. >> it is hard because it makes

you remember again and again and again what happened. >> their restaurant is right on nice's promenade des anglais. the attacker's van came to a standstill just 100 meters away. the attack on this popular holiday resort in southern france was completely unexpected. >> everyone is really shocked. everyone is always saying it's paris, paris, and no-one never thought it was going to happen here. >> alex and rebecca grew up in nice. their family has run the restaurant for 10 years. on bastille night, they did everything they could to bring their guests to safety. in the kitchen and the food storage rooms. the whole scene was caught on camera. >> when she is there, you will see. they are just running here. people start to understand.

we tell everyone to get inside. >> we didn't know what was going on, we were afraid that maybe three or five with the guns. everyone came in so fast, you're going to see some people falling. >> you will see around here they fell on the floor. and people were walking on him, like the children. there is a father with his son. he is breathing really fast because he was afraid and he -- >> over 80 people were killed in the attack. and dozens more were injured. the attacker was a 31-year-old tunisian from the north of nice. local muslims there are devastated, grieving for the victims and fearing the impact on their community.

>> we keep saying that religion has nothing to do with these acts. people need to understand the situation of muslims. we are caught in the crossfire. >> there is a considerable muslim community in nice and several mosques. there are fears that terrorist attacks will increase tensions. >> with everything that has happened, we know what conclusions certain people with more extreme views will draw. some will blame muslims for not denouncing what's going on. the peaceful co-extistence in france has been hit hard by this. >> there are some holidaymakers back on the beaches but fewer than usual. local business owners are worried about the longer-term effect on tourism in the city.

in the short term, alex and rebecca are trying to cope with their trauma by hanging out with their colleagues from the restaurant. >> we cannot get over it just on our own. we have to talk about it. we have to express our feelings, to cry, to be together, to hug people. and that is what we do together. we have been through it, and our employees also say now we are like a family. we have been through it, now we are like a family. >> and the family wants to open the restaurant again as soon as possible. to try to get back to normal, just like the whole of france. >> across europe, the fear of terrorist attacks is increasing. after the bombings in belgium and turkey, and the repeated attacks in france, many feel it was only a matter of time before

germany found itself in jihadist's crosshairs. these fears seem to have become reality after an afghan refugee wielding an axe attacked passengers on a train in southern germany. as a result of this and what happened in nice, the continent is now on alert for what appears to be a new kind of attacker. there are terrorists who returned after training abroad, but there now seems to be jihadists who are self radicalising in a matter of days with the help of islamic state online propaganda, and who choose to strike alone. >> this is an islamic state propaganda video. featuring chanting that says "kill them wherever you find them." germany too is in the sightline. security forces recently foiled an attack on dusseldorf where terrorists had planned to shoot at passersby and blow themselves up.

>> there is a danger of attacks, the situation is serious. in recent years, is has developed into a monster which could not be predicted. we have to assume that anyone who was with is and was able to return could be a danger for our domestic security. >> is registers those joining up very precisely. these documents refer to 54 germans that went to syria to fight in the war. they include their names, profession, blood group, fighting experience. they were also questioned about their willingness to commit a suicide attack. the forms also include information about where people were recruited. berlin, hamburg, bremen, dortmund, frankfurt, kassel, lubeck, wolfsburg and many more places. this woman's son was on the list. he left germany early 2014

saying he was going on holiday. he didn't get in touch for weeks. then he sent a message saying he had joined is in syria. >> my world fell to pieces. i thought to myself my child is there. what's he doing there? what pushed him to go there? he had everything. decent schooling, he had more of less his own income, friends, a whole circle of friends. of course, i asked myself how it could have happened. it could have been any child. from any walk of life. >> the is propaganda seems to be effective at all levels of society. >> the problem with those coming back from syria is that we can't tell what's going on with them, whether they are just laying low or following a plan of action. we can't lock them all up.

we're a free society and one of its most important principles is that people cannot be taken off the stet and detained each time there is a mere suspicion. >> this man, who wants to remain anonymous because he's scared, explains how a former friend of his became a jihadist in syria. >> mohammed was a typical petty criminal, mugging people. bu then it went really fast. he started praying more often, stopped smoking joints, suddenly had a beard and had become radical. that's the worst combination someone who isn't clever and doesn't have any qualms about inflicting pain on others. and on top of that, religion and the wrong people. >> mohammed boasted on facebook that he had joined is and posted pictures from syria. there were even some where he posed next to severed heads.

after nine months, he suddenly came back to germany. >> i was at the barber's and he told me that mohammed had come back from syria. friends also told me. lots of people think he's great , even though they're not religious. they say, look he's back from syria, he's fighting for islam. it is a kind of hero worship. >> mohammed was able to hide out with friends for a few months. he even went to pray regularly in his old mosque. his friend was incredulous. >> i don't want him here. he's sick, he even tried to get a kalashnikov here. i don't know if he was planning an attack. but if you put two and two together. i called the police but they just said, if you see him, contact us. i didn't believe it.

i don't know what they were thinking. >> mohammed returned to syria in the fall of 2015. now his old friend fears he'll return to germany this summer. so, is anything being done to stop him? we head to the office of the federal prosecutor to find out. officials there don't want to comment on specific cases. they say it could hamper their investigations. but they assure us that they monitor such returns closely and are prepared for the worst-case scenario. >> anyone can carry out a terrorist attack, whether they're self-radicalised or returning from syria. they're dangerous in different ways. the girl who attacked a police officer at hannover train station with a kitchen knife is dangerous. as of course are people who have learnt to operate kalashnikovs, or are prepared to wear a suicide belt to carry out attacks on a soccer stadium or

other big crowds of people. >> a detention center in frankfurt. two-thirds of germans who have traveled to i-s strongholds were already known to the police. many of them began as petty criminals and were radicalised by jihadists in prison. state authorites in hesse have launched a de-radicalisation program in response. muslim prison chaplain mustafa cimsit is one of those involved. >> the risk of being radicalised is generally pretty high. but of course it's even higher in prisons. the isolation means there's no one to ask for advice. there are only like-minded people. if others are already radicalised, they'll simply continue to radicalise others. that's why this preventive action is very important.

>> the chaplain speaks to the prisoners one-on-one and uses prayers to try and prevent radicalisation. >> we have muslims who themselves come from germany, who say that everyone in the west is an infidel, even though they are themselves western. so they're denying themselves. we need to explain these contradictions to them. >> this prisoner is in investigative custody for violent crime. he's already been approached by jihadists. young muslims, he says, are especially vulnerable. >> they hear things like you go there, you get a gun, you can shoot people listen to you, you're important, you have a position of power in a place you couldn't have been before. of course that attracts young people.

>> the so-called islamic state continues to attract new recruits in germany as well as elsewhere. >> the number of people leaving is no longer as high as it was in the summer of 2014, when the so-called caliphate was declared. the boom has diminished somewhat but at the same time, is is still attractive and continues to prompt people to leave every month. >> a heart-wrenching experience for their families. a year after her son left, this woman got a call from syria, telling her that her son had died, but was now in paradise. >> i couldn't believe it. i just sat there thinking it's all a nightmare, it can't be true. it is just some idiot making a prank, telling you your son has died in gunfire.

it's unbelievable. they didn't give me anything. i wasn't allowed ask any questions. i was just left like that and supposed to live with it. after all, they consider you an infidel. >> why did her son have to die? it's a question this mother will never be able to answer. he was one of 800 germans recruited by is to sow terror. >> that's it for today. we know that we covered two really tough topics, this time, but those are the stories at the forfront of the minds of the people here in europe. please feel free to share your thougts with us via facebook, email or twitter. thank you for watching. in the meantime it's goodbye from me and the whole team.

[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] steves: since the romantic era in the 19th century, luzern has been a regular stop on the grand tour route of europe. [ whistle blows ] its inviting lakefront now includes a modern concert hall, which incorporates the lake into its design. the old town, with a pair of picture-perfect wooden bridges, straddles the reuss river, where it tumbles out of lake luzern. the bridge was built at an angle in the 14th century

to connect the town's medieval fortifications. today, it serves strollers, rather than soldiers, as a peaceful way to connect two sides of town. many are oblivious to the fascinating art just overhead. under the rafters hang about 100 colorful 17th-century paintings showing scenes from luzern and its history. this legendary giant dates to the middle ages, when locals discovered mammoth bones, which they mistakenly thought were the bones of a human giant. here's luzern in about 1400, the bridge already part of the city fortifications. and luzern looked like this in 1630. luzern is responsible for controlling the lake level. by regulating the flow of water out of its lake, the city prevents the flooding of lakeside villages when the snow melts. in the mid-19th century, the city devised and built this extendable dam. by adding and taking away these wooden slats,

they could control the level of the lake. swans are a fixture on the river today. locals say they arrived in the 17th century as a gift from the french king, louis xiv, in appreciation for the protection his swiss guards gave him. switzerland has a long history of providing strong and loyal warriors to foreign powers. the city's famous lion monument recalls the heroism of more swiss mercenaries. the mighty lion rests his paws on a french shield. tears stream down his cheeks. the broken-off end of a spear is slowly killing the noble beast. the sad lion is a memorial to over 700 swiss mercenaries who were killed, defending marie antoinette and louis xvi during the french revolution. the people of luzern take full advantage of their delightful river with a variety of cafes and restaurants along its banks. this evening, we're enjoying the setting as much as the food.

i'm having the local pork. my producer, simon, is having eel, fresh from the river. with a picturesque setting like this, the dining experience makes for a wonderful memory.

hello there, welcome to nhk "newsline." it is tuesday, august2nd, 9:00 a.m. i'm catherine kobayashi tokyo. a prom nebts chinese human rights lawyer has confessed to subversion. but some supporters say chinese authorities may have pressured her to do so. in the interview, she says she feels ashamed and regrets what she has done, including posting inappropriate the messages on the internet. she is one of those who has been detained by police since ly