♪ michelle: hello, and welcome to "fokus on europe." i'm michelle henery. russian hackers already in the midst of a scandal involving the u.s. presidential elections are said to be on track to flood germany with disinformation and fake news in an attempt to disrupt the country's upcoming elections, say i.t. experts. ♪ computer viruses are now a worldwide epidemic, and russia is linked to some of the worst ever produced. so much so, that the country is

now considered the superpower of the cyber world. and experts say that organized crime in this industry is growing. in the wake of the u.s. election hacking scandal, german intelligence agencies fear attacks on the upcoming election. we spoke to some people involved in the russian cyber scene, who showed just how easily voters' opinions could be manipulated. reporter: according to alexander varskoy, russia's hacker scene is ruled by bits and bytes, not by laws. he's been active in the scene for 20 years. his world revolves around data, codes, and passwords. he's always on the look-out for information leaks and potentially volatile information. alexander: as a hacker, i don't need a nationality. i'm part of a subculture. reporter: a world of your own? alexander: i live in your world.

reporter: varskoy says hacking and information leaks are not illegal. he says they're part of the digital age. alexander: all data is accessible. nothing is really protected. that's the point of the internet. the data that surrounds us spills over, just like hot water that boils over. reporter: varskoy knows that data gets manipulated, and that russia is considered a cyber superpower that's asserting its influence. he says he hasn't been involved, but he does hint that politicians are careless with their passwords. alexander: there's so much data. to get their passwords, for example, i simply enter a search term. here, we already have social media data. anyone can access that. reporter: the russian hacker scene is huge. german security agencies and cyber experts are alarmed. they fear attacks on data and computer viruses in the run-up to germany's general election. because computers that belong to

german politicians have been attacked with viruses and the data illegally accessed. thomas: we have witnessed what is presumed to be interference in the u.s. elections and an attempt to influence the french election. all evidence points to russia. that's why we cannot rule out -- and why we are preparing for -- similar efforts to influence germany's election. reporter: but activists have not just targeted data. they're also trying to sway public opinion. this building in saint petersburg hosts what's officially termed an internet research agency. it's suspected to be the russian government's online propaganda agency, or "troll farm." "trolls" are internet users who deliberately manipulate online discussions to provoke or agitate. journalist ludmila savchuk managed to infiltrate the troll factory to document the online provocation.

ludmilla: a large number of workers quickly produce online comments, posts, pictures and videos. they receive their orders straight to their computers, but don't know who issues them. they're explicitly told what to stress and what conclusions to make online. basically, they get paid to disseminate specific opinions. reporter: savchuk says these trolls are paid to whip up anti-american sentiment, interfere in the ukraine conflict, and address russian minorities in europe. most of these trolls are young, unemployed academics. lyudmila: paid trolls are unscrupulous. they hide behind fake accounts and think they're entitled to say whatever they want. that's irresponsible extremism, in my opinion. they're fuelling hatred.

reporter: false statements, viruses, and data theft are also being used against germany. again and again, security experts were able to trace many of the attacks back to russia. now, germany's intelligence services have boosted security, and varskoy says this is paying off. alexander: germany's general election? germans needn't worry, their security software is excellent. reporter: but that surely will not deter the hackers who work for russia's intelligence services. they are fighting for russian supremacy, and not just in the cyber world. michelle: there was a time when if you were a politician and wanted to reach out to the public, it meant shaking hands and kissing babies. but now in the age of social media, posting photos, videos, and tweets are practically a necessity. and for the most part, it works. politicians feel more accessible and voters feel more engaged. but there's also a dark side --

where they must endure hate, insults and threats of violence. germany has just passed a new law in which social networks must remove slanderous or threatening posts. politicians like ozcan mutlu of the green party say that this new law could not have come soon enough. reporter: ozcan mutlu is touring his constituency by bicycle. he's a green party m.p. in berlin. his first stop -- an open-air citizens' meeting, and the obligatory group photo with his helpers. right away it's posted on social media -- in this case, on twitter. for mutlu, it's a way to invite voters to come and see him. ozcan: a lot of people who are active on social media -- whether it's facebook, instagram, or twitter -- see what i'm doing. they also see that i'm an approachable, accessible candidate, and that's really good.

reporter: but, as a green party member of turkish origin, mutlu has also been subjected to a lot of hate posts. he's become a target for right-wing extremists and xenophobes. ozcan: social media has made it a lot easier to spread all this hatred. it was there among the people, but it was anonymous, hidden. reporter: mutlu is never far away from his smartphone -- or social media. before the first constituents stop by for a chat, he fits in another appointment. he rides to another district of berlin to talk about integration. here, mutlu also meets voters with turkish roots -- just like himself. but some of them have also attacked and threatened him on social media. ozcan: look what they wrote -- you vote stealer!

i hope they feed your corpse to the dogs! don't come back to turkey ever again. on monday, i'll report you to the public prosecutor, to make sure you're arrested if you try to enter turkey. reporter: he's also received hate mail from germans, like this email -- ozcan: and someone wrote this -- it's time to put auschwitz, buchenwald, and other camps into operation again -- that's where you filthy turks belong. up the chimney with you turks. it'll even create jobs for germans. in this case i pressed charges, but the prosecutor closed the case. reporter: like ozcan mutlu, politicians across germany have received threats -- at least one politician stepped down as a result. many have pressed charges. but their attempts often fail, because facebook won't reveal the identity of those who posted the comments. victims of cyberbullying want tough legislation. lawyer niko harting criticizes previous attempts. niko: the politicians have been really wishy-washy.

on the one hand, they say facebook should only delete posts that constitute a criminal offense. but when you look in the conviction statistics, there have been next to no convictions, although many charges were filed. there's apparently not so much content that constitutes a criminal offense. reporter: so far, none of the 40 charges ozcan mutlu has filed have been successful -- others are still pending. germany's justice system says many comments fall under the right to freedom of expression. this makes him feel powerless and angry. ozcan: as a politician, i don't have to tolerate insults and threats. as a public figure, it's clear to me that i have to put up with a lot. but when i'm threatened or insulted, when my family is threatened or insulted, that's no laughing matter. law -- criminal law -- also applies to politicians -- they must be protected when they're being persecuted or libeled.

reporter: mutlu considers it facebook's responsibility to allow him to get his message out on the campaign trail, while, at the same time, filtering out hate posts. ozcan: if facebook wanted to, it could build algorithms into their system which could log data that constitutes an offense. but facebook doesn't want to do that. reporter: mutlu plans to keeping fighting for tougher laws against hate comments. until then, he'll have to deal with the threats against him on his own. michelle: horrified by the surprise breakthrough made by a neo-nazi political party in slovakia's recent elections, one man has decided to fight back. the people's party-our slovakia won an unexpected 8% of the national vote and 14 seats in parliament. its leader is now considered the

face of yet another far-right resurgence in an eu member state. despite threats of retaliation, jan bencik, a 69-year-old retiree who spends his time exposing their radical ideas, went with our reporter to the leader's village to confront him. reporter: every day, jan bencik sits in his local cafe and campaigns against neo-nazis. he exposes online far-right extremism in slovakia, and those behind it. his activity has brought him death threats. jan: he wrote my name on the bullet. it said, "only for you" in english. reporter: the 69-year-old pensioner refuses to be intimidated. he began tracking down far right websites almost three years ago. his work has led to many accounts being blocked and various neo-nazi networks being dismantled.

bencik is now up against a powerful opponent -- marian kotleba, the leader of the people's party-our slovakia. the party is becoming increasingly popular. many supporters are openly racist, anti-semitic, and anti-roma. some idolize adolf hitler. the party won 8% of the vote in the national elections last year. bencik says kotleba and his supporters control over 100 facebook pages. the largest has 100,000 followers. jan: kotleba is also dangerous because he's very intelligent by comparison to many of his supporters. he has two university degrees and he knows how to mask his activities and keep them within the bounds of legality.

reporter: this is how he was able to become governor of the district of banska bystrica in 2013. jan bencik travelled with us to the region to give us an insight into kotleba's activity. it's a dangerous undertaking. jan: everyone has an instinct of self-preservation. of course i'm scared, and that's natural. my wife is very worried. but i don't want to allow them the pleasure of giving into their threats and stopping what i do. reporter: the district capital seems like a pretty town at first glance, but it has a history of unemployment and corruption. many locals blame the establishment for all that, and that's why some of them support kotleba. jan: kotleba promised to change everything. however, 14 of his relatives are now directly employed by him and many public contracts are awarded to his people.

reporter: we got no response to our requests to talk personally with kotleba about these allegations. so we went straight to his offices. many of his supporters were hanging out in front of the building. there was no trace of the party leader inside. none of any of his representatives will speak with us. finally, we were asked to leave the building. the museum of the slovak national uprising is located just a few hundred meters away. its focus is the anti-nazi resistance between 1939 and 1945. but according to the museum director, this has not prevented a rise in neo-nazi ideology across slovakia. he said that the message from the regional administration's current newsletter was that jews rule the world.

as we were leaving the museum, bencik saw a car displaying the emblem of kotleba's far right party. jan: i know the driver. he's called richard. he's a right-wing activist. he's one of kotleba's people. he's always following us and filming us. reporter: but jan bencik is undeterred. the next day, he's back at his laptop, continuing his campaign against neo-nazis in his home country. michelle: it is the one-year anniversary of the failed coup against turkey's president erdogan. the day now serves as the founding myth of a new turkey. erdogan is more powerful than ever since he imprisoned, dismissed, or alienated almost anyone perceived as an opponent.

he even won a referendum in april, making him both head of state and head of government. but as he pivots the country away from the west and transforms its politics, the country is deeply divided. reporter: ayla kasarci was lucky, she was only grazed by a passing bullet. it happened on the evening of july 15 last year, close to the bosphorus bridge in istanbul. ayla: over there near the crash barrier. that was where i was shot at. reporter: ayla had blocked the way for soldiers attempting to stage a coup, together with hundreds of other demonstrators. dozens were killed when the soldiers opened fire. ayla was hit in the arm, her husband in the stomach. ayla: we knew they'd shoot at us, but i wasn't afraid. my only thought was, my children will still grow up without a

father or mother, but they won't grow up if they have no fatherland. reporter: kasarci is a fervent supporter of president erdogan. she and the other protesters who stood against the renegade soldiers are now celebrated as veterans of july 15. the government was quick to blame the attempted coup on followers of islamic cleric fetullah gulen. but many turks question the official version of events. on the night of the coup, the parliament in ankara was bombed by fighter jets, while the delegates sat inside. aykut erdogdu of the social-democratic chp opposition party was there that night, too. erdogdu believes the government knew of the planned coup beforehand. aykut: yes, they let the coup happen so that afterward they could launch a counter-coup.

i was on the parliamentary commission that investigated the events. we applied in vain for the chief of the general staff and the head of the intelligence services to be summoned. both knew about the planned coup eight to nine hours before it happened. so how come the government knew nothing? reporter: but asking such questions is dangerous. numerous members of parliament are now in jail. political opponent erdogdu refers to the state of emergency which the government introduced and has upheld since the coup as a counter-coup. since then, more than 140,000 suspected opponents of the government have been fired from the civil service and over 50,000 been arrested.

in the eyes of ayla kasarci, they are terrorists. she has been closely following the trial of the main suspects behind the attempted coup. like president erdogan, she would like to see them face the maximum penalty. ayla: i want them to reinstate the death penalty. but they shouldn't be killed by an executioner. they should let the relatives of the martyrs and veterans of july 15th do it instead. that's what i'd like to see. reporter: but what really happened on the night of july 15? it's a question that continues to bother aykut erdogdu. almost every day, he stumbles on some new detail that doesn't make sense or seems contradictory. why, for example, was a bomb dropped on the garden of the parliament early on july 16, when the uprising had largely collapsed? again and again, erdogdu discusses with other politicians from his party how they can shed more light on the events of that

night. but they need to be careful that they don't get accused of being involved in the coup themselves. aykut: those who were the architects of this crime, or who have abused it for their own purposes, must be called to account. but we were not able to achieve that with our parliamentary investigation. and now the judiciary is finished. i'm not expecting an independent legal process anymore. reporter: the kasarcis are finding it difficult to get back into normal life, especially ayla's husband, yasin. the bullet passed right through his stomach and only narrowly missed his spine. they find the very suggestion that the government might have allowed the coup to go forward an outrageous idea. ayla: our country is doing great and we are being governed by a leader who is unparalleled anywhere in the world. if he could have prevented this coup attempt, he would

definitely have done so. but for some reason, he couldn't. there must have been communication problems. yasin: on that night there was such a willingness to help and such a sense of solidarity, across all boundaries. we no longer want to ask the question today whether the coup could have been prevented. reporter: the kasarcis would go back out on the street again anytime for erdogan. with this president in office, they have no worries about the future of their children. michelle: an increasing number of turks are concerned about this. the largest anti-government protest seen for decades, which saw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, was just held in turkey. look closely at the label on your bar of soap.

in france, you might find something surprising -- a label that says "made in aleppo." france is known for its fashion, fragrances, and of course, fine wines. but the war-torn city in syria is famous for producing soap made according to an ancient tradition, and which continues to be exported despite the conflict. reporter: here in france, you'll usually find it in stores like this -- with the organic products. aleppo soap has become trendy and a product favored by those in the know. aleppo? this soap here really does come from the war-torn city in syria. manar najjar is the person responsible for bringing it to store shelves in lyon. manar: there are still many people living in aleppo -- twice as many as in lyon. and of course, they work. sure, the war has changed everything.

they often lack electricity and water, every sort of service -- but people carry on, because they believe in their country. emigrating isn't the best solution. reporter: manar came lyon long before the war in syria began. but his family -- including his brother -- still live in syria. manar's brother filmed the soap factory with his cell phone. it's a bare bones operation. reporter: everything here is done by hand -- or foot. from harvesting the olives, to stacking the finished soap. the company employs up to 100 people. the traditional production methods also work during wartime. the syrian government protected the aleppo soap brand name with this stamp. but this protection does not extend to the rest of the world

-- and that worries manar. manar: it hurts me when people copy the recipe for this soap. aleppo soap is made in aleppo -- not in paris or new york. it's not like a restaurant where you can take the recipes along withou. it's about expertise. it's aleppo's heritage and its history. and more importantly, it's like stabbing the working people there in the back. this is their daily bread. if tomorrow aleppo soap is being made everywhere, the people there will have nothing. they'll all leave and be scattered around the globe. reporter: manar najjar also employs syrians exiles. there caught betwe the frontlines and witnessed terrible incidents. but here, they look after the organic cosmetics. that should keep the company afloat if the supply of aleppo soap dries up.

manar: it's heartbreaking. i used to go to aleppo every three months. i left at age 30. you can imagine how hard it is to not be able to go back. reporter: aleppo soap is also a piece of home to these men. a home to which they cannot return. michelle: it's amazing the soap is still able to be produced and sold. but that's also a sign of the will of the syrian people to stay strong in the face of adversity. that's it for today, thank you for watching. let us know what you think about today's program by sending me a tweet or visiting our facebook page, "dw stories." until next time, goodbye. ♪ [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] icap.org]

steves: from the destruction of world war ii, europe has steadily rebuilt itself into a forward-looking and united continent. with the creation of the european union, economic integration has made another devastating war unthinkable.

there has been a massive investment in cutting-edge infrastructure projects. efficient high-speed rail systems tie europe together. superhighways and stunning bridges further enhance the continent-wide transportation system. within cities, sleek subways move millions underground. on the streets above, public transit reduces traffic congestion. and nearly every city is creating traffic-free pedestrian zones, making urban life even more people-friendly. as the world grapples with climate change, europe is taking a leading role in developing alternative energy sources.

and while still preserving the historic character of its cities, europe has found a way to integrate innovative architecture into the landscape, giving the old world a modern face. and the human face of contemporary europe is more diverse and vibrant than ever. even as this continent of 500 million people unites, it's finding ways to allow its rich mix of cultures to celebrate their unique identities. from norway to greece and from portugal to bulgaria, people are proud to preserve their distinct languages, foods, and traditions.

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