>> hello and welcome to focus on europe. i'm damien mcguinness. great you could join us today. in a few weeks german voters will go to the polls, and choose a new government. and one of the issues that divides people is migration. ♪ >> some voters you talk to say they are proud of germany's humanitarian record taking in refugees. but others are worried about the impact of such large numbers. particularly because some of those asylum seekers have committed islamist terror attacks here.

and that's where masoud aqil comes in. he was captured and tortured by so-called islamist state in syria. but he managed to escape to germany. now he wants to use that traumatic experience to help the country that has taken him in. >> masoud aqil, a kurdish refugee from syria, is an important informant in the fight against is terrorists in europe. even germany's capital, berlin, is not safe from islamist terrorism. last december, a terrorist murdered 12 people at a christmas market in the name of the islamic state, the same organization that masoud aqil fled from. >> what they want to do when they do terrorist attacks in berlin, in germany in general in all europe, in syria, in my home land in kurdistan. all these attacks, their target is to make us weaker, to make us get afraid.

but when we feel the opposite, when we get stronger. i think this is the inner thing to show isis they are nothing. >> masoud aqil defies is by openly showing his face and revealing the information he brought with him when he fled from syria to europe. he gained intimate knowledge of is the hard way, and is passing it on to the police. >> these threatenings now may happen here and some of them happened. i felt myself responsible for doing something. it's something like a duty, i consider that doing something against isis is a duty. >> masoud spent eight months in six different islamic state torture chambers in syria. the last was in this former hotel building in the city of

manbij. >> sure they would torture me and torture us, all the prisoners. so that, can you believe, the torturing was a routine. it was such a kind of something that should be done. sometimes the days they didn't torture any prisoner we were feeling that something is missing. >> before is captured him, masoud aqil had spent 20 months as a video journalist reporting on the ypg's fight against the islamic state. the ypg is a kurdish militia that receives equipment from the united states. nine days after he shot this footage, on december 15th, 2014,

the young kurdish journalist was captured on this road, south of his hometown qamislo in northeastern syria. he spent 280 days in is torture chambers. until this happy moment, when he was released in a prisoner exchange. he was the very first kurdish civilian to survive the torture of is. he and his mother fled to germany. masoud aqil wrote a book about his experiences, with the help of the berlin journalist peter kopf. even more important: masoud aqil recognized terrorists from syria -- now in europe. >> the dangerous members who tried to flee, tried to show themselves as refugees, but unfortunately they are not refugees, they are criminals, bad people, who had to join the

islamic radical groups or people who did crimes against the civilians in syria or in iraq. >> he even recognized some of his torturers on their facebook profiles. that's how confident is adherents feel. masoud turned his information over to the german authorities -- and they believe him. >> many members of militant organizations -- is, but others as well -- came to germany in this wave of refugees from northern syria in 2014 and 2015. and there are many cases in which syrian refugees now housed in refugee shelters provide the authorities with information on alleged and sometimes real is terrorists. >> in the meantime, in dozens of court cases, refugees are

testifying against suspected terrorists from syria. the court has to distinguish between true testimony and false accusations. >> there are clearly reasonable doubts about much of the information on supposed is adherents. but when we have someone here who saw this organization from this close, without being a member or a supporter, then of course his information is especially important. >> masoud aqil wants to help europe, and especially germany, which took him in. >> i dream about that one day we will live with zero danger, with no danger of terrorism. that would be great and amazing. >> that's why masoud aqil hopes that other refugees will follow his example and say what they know about is terrorists who have mixed in with the refugees.

>> brave man. germany though is also home to many people who came here generations ago. 16-year-old arman was born here, speaks german as a mother-tongue and has only ever lived in germany. his family is originally turkish. that means that as the law stands at the moment, he is entitled to both german and turkish citizenship. but with tensions growing between berlin and ankara, the issue of dual nationality is becoming a political one in the elections and some politicians want to scrap it. this would mean a painful decision for arman. >> sports acrobats in berlin run through their routine. among them are 16-year-old arman boyraz and his sister bilge, the only ethnic turks in the gymnastics club. their proud parents place high value on integration. they deliberately did not choose a majority-ethnic turkish sports club.

afterwards, the boyraz family serves up free turkish watermelon for all. they want to be part of german society but still preserve their turkish roots. >> as time goes on we feel very good here in berlin actually just like at home but we do in turkey, as well. i like both countries a lot. >> arman was born here, so he has a right to german and turkish citizenship. but, much to his chagrin, the debate over the issue has re-ignited. will he be forced to choose? german or turkish? >> having two passports connects the two countries. that helps to build bridges. germany's already multi-cultural to a degree, but this makes it even more multi-cultural.

>> in the current german election campaign, the conservative christian democrats are calling for a legal requirement to choose. so by age 24, arman would have to decide for one citizenship or the other. this stance is largely a response to the policies of turkish president recep tayyip erdogan. he's been campaigning among the some 1-point-4 million german turks with recommendations for the german election. >> this is just one of the reasons. many in the christian democrat party are saying we can't have this interference in our culture and way of life from outside. >> arman is disappointed that he can't find any solid support for dual citizenship among the opposition center-right free democrats, either. he asks what the party has to say about it. >> this isn't something you can grant and take away as you please. but when people live here

permanently, eventually, they have to decide. >> but do you think it's right that only turks should lose this option while nobody from any other european country would? >> no, it should be the same for everyone. but you know things are difficult with turkey right now. >> only turkish, only german, or dual citizenship all three statuses occur in the boyraz family. the children are growing up with dual citizenship, but the parents may have a hard time deciding. >> if we renounced our turkish nationalities, we'd face discrimination in turkey. they'd say, what do you german-turks want here? you don't even have turkish citizenship. what business do you have here? >> berlin is arman's home town, and he wants to stay here. but his turkish passport is like a bridge to the homeland of his parents.

>> i'm hoping it doesn't come down to being forced to choose. of course, i'd tend toward the german passport, but in my heart, it would hurt. >> as arman sees it, a political falling-out between berlin and ankara could result in well integrated turkish youngsters losing a piece of their own identity. >> it would be sad if promising young people suddenly felt they were not welcome in germany. just imagine. you work full time in one of the most beautiful places in the world. but you can barely afford to live. that appears to be what's happening to some people on the idyllic greek holiday island of santorini. tourists numbers are up. and the greek economy is in some ways getting back on its feet. but that's not necessarily being felt in ordinary people's pay packets. as our reporter has been finding out.

>> for some it's the best days of the year - finally they can relax on holiday. visitors come from all over the world come to enjoy the greek island of santorini. but for others it's the hardest time of the year. for seven months they work right through, doing endless overtime and often without a day off. tenia came here from athens. her first two years in santorini were a nightmare. but now she only works six days a week and earns 1000 euros a month. a great wage for here. before she was like a modern slave, earning a lot less. there are many such people in santorini, often working without health insurance. but they all keep quiet. >> they're probably afraid that any bad things they say, either about their job or their employer, will come out and they

will then lose their job as a result. >> most people here are grateful to have work at all. >> we decide to dig a little deeper in the town of kamari to find out how bad the situation really is. we meet petro from germany, he runs a beach bar here. we ask him how much he pays his 18 employees. >> the job machine works brilliantly. if you worked in athens 8 hours a day, you'd get 25 euros a day, that's net. social security payments are on top of that, like in germany. here the daily wage starts at 40 euros - so if a waiter earns 40 euros plus 40 to 50 euros in tips, that's 90 euros a day, which is quite a lot of money even for germany, right?

>> but is 90 euros a day really a lot for a seasonal job, when you have to pay to live in an expensive place like santorini? we meet tenia again after work. she says the problem of where to live is indeed a huge challenge. >> the owners prefer to sell their places to tourists, like for some amount of money per day, and that doesn't work for them if someone wants to stay there and pay a rent for a month. >> one thing is clear, not all employers in santorini are bad and exploit their employees. we visit andreas patiniotis. he employs 130 people in his hotels, which are all luxury establishments. he says he needs well trained people, otherwise his guests complain. and he ensures us he pays them a decent wage.

but surely that's expensive. >> it's certainly a decision that costs money. everything you do costs money, but if you invest well it pays dividends. >> santorini is also a popular choice for seasonal workers from romania and bulgaria. one trade union for the greek service industry investigates cases of exploitation from all over greece. giorgos is tasked with helping the victims. >> the most tragic case so far was a hotel chamber maid on the island of zakynthos last year. she died on the job because she was simply overworked. and i think that this is a symptom that is typical for the conditions in our industry. >> for some it's paradise, for others hell. the greek tourism industry is certainly benefiting from record visitor numbers, but it's often at the expense of ordinary

workers. the problem is, right now many greeks simply see no alternative. >> bees meant everything to rumanian farmer costel gresala. that's because he lived off the sales of the honey they made. but now he's lost everything. all because of a pesticide called fiprocid. it contains the toxic ingredient fipronil, that has been hitting headlines across europe over the past few weeks, after it was found in eggs being sold across europe. now the pesticide has destroyed not only costel's bees, but also his livelihood. >> millions of bees used to collect pollen here. but two years ago, all the buzzing activity around beekeeper costel gresala fell silent. >> take a look. all the bees are dead. all because of this chemical they sprayed on the fields.

my entire business is destroyed. at some point i'll have to burn everything down. >> in spring 2015, wheat fields here were sprayed with the insecticide fiprocid to kill ticks. its use near domestic animals was already banned at that time. people in the village of puiesti, in one of eastern romania's poorest regions, were not even informed, says greschala. >> it was a disaster for us beekeepers. we were robbed of our livelihood. a beekeeper can't exist without bees. these gentlemen caused an ecological disaster here. they didn't think about the people, nor the animals, nor us. all they're interested in is money. and they can't get enough of it! >> costel greschala lost 24 beehives and with them his livelihood. the same happened to other beekeepers. along with farming, honey was

one of the few sources of income for people in puiesti. the beekeepers are suing this man, the pest exterminator constantin dragut for using banned chemicals. he sprayed the fiprocid, and now he presents it to us with a clear conscience. he no longer sells it. but he does still sell similar poisons. >> look here. you can buy it for 15 lei and do what you want with it. >> but how is it applied? >> the directions are on the bottle. >> the trial against dragut is already in its second year. the court wants expert advice from the agricultural authorities. but they haven't even looked into the case. and the beekeepers suspect that's because dreguts's wife works in the agency and is protecting her husband. >> the evidence shows that i'm innocent. everything was signed and permitted. i was supposed to exterminate ticks.

they live in the fields, not on airplanes or ships. so that's where i sprayed. i am not to blame. >> the beekeepers see that differently. now that contaminated eggs in belgium and holland have focused attention on fiprocid's dangers when used with domestic animals, they hope pressure will be put on the manufacturer in bucharest. the company ignored interview requests. but this invoice shows that it delivered fiprocid to animal breeders, although the eu banned the chemical in 2013. >> fiprocid can be deadly. especially if you consume several products contaminated with it. the effects emerge rapidly. the symptoms are nausea, sweating, vomiting, and even unconsciousness. >> for the beekeepers in puiesti, the egg scandal in western europe changes nothing. fiprocid killed about 50 million

bees here in 2015. costel gresala is sad that no one seems to have learned anything from that. >> we exported honey from here all over europe. to germany, france, italy. there were contracts. but since the disaster, since the bees died, we no longer sell honey. otherwise, this is a pristine region with huge forests. there was never any environmental pollution. >> slowly, nature seems to be recovering. costel gresala makes a discovery. wild bees have moved into one of his hives. that encourages him to begin keeping bees again. but it will be a long time before he can once again make a living from it. >> fish-and-chips. fatty fry-ups.

not to mention all the biscuits. some of the most tempting food in britain is not exactly what you'd call low-cal. which goes some way to explain why the british have become among the heaviest people in europe. and the difficulty for many men wanting to lose weight, is that dieting programmes tend to target women. so a new club has been set up, using another british national obsession to help men shed the pounds, with the message: forget the fry-ups, focus on the football. >> one football pitch. six men on each side. with an total weight of 1500 kilos they play for just 30 minutes. >> i haven't played in five years, so it's all a bit rusty, my first touch i don't know what it's going to be like. >> but first he gets on the scales. christa checks each man's weight, supervises the teams and gives tips on healthy eating. >> they go to the pub, they have a drink, they have a laugh with their friends. oh here's fat fred, bulky bob,

and they mess around and joke but not a lot of people actually get inspired to come to manvfat or want to do anything about it. >> here in colchester, 80 men have signed up, all overweight. eight teams compete each wednesday. every pound the men lose counts as extra points for their team. so it may be the thinnest footballers that win rather than the best players. >> today twente stone are playing little piggies. after just a few minutes, ben is on. some of the players soon get out of breath. so they get substituted and the next one has a chance. no one is forced to go beyond their limits. >> i'm absolutely knackered! >> and how many minutes did you play? >> four or five minutes. intense, very intense.

>> 30 year oldteam mate ben is married, has four children with number five on the way. he lives in a neighboring town, where he works as a safety engineer and has a second job working with children. when his weight reached 160 kilos he realized it was life threatening. >> i could not quench my thirst, so i was drinking four litres, that'd be anything orange squash, fizzy, i was trying anything, water just to get rid of this thirst. but then i was going to the toilet, every 20 minutes. i was up all night, constantly, so i went on the internet and googled symptoms and i was like: i'm pretty sure this is what i've got and i need to do something about it. >> it was diabetes. ben could have fallen into a diabetic coma at any time. now he monitors his calories daily. the uk as a whole has a weight problem. the city of colchester, an hour's drive from london, is typical. people are eating too much fat and sugar and not getting enough

exercise. the national health service says 61% of britons are overweight and 25% are obese, putting them way ahead of the european average. manvfat is seeking to reverse that trend. they encourage their members to walk to training and to cut down on carbohydrates. and it's working. >> it's been hard though because there's not been 100 percent support at home because i've been having steak and salad the wife's been having steak, chips, onion rings and i'm like, i want to chips. but i've cut it out and it feels good. >> one week later, the guys are back. outside the rain is belting down, but no matter. twente stone are taking on fc beer-celona. the opponent soon comes under pressure. twente stone are completely transformed. after a week of dieting and exercise they're aggressive and well coordinated. most of them thought they were

too fat to play football. but how quickly things can change. the players here lose up to 30 kilos in one season. >> he'll be taking over from david beckham as the next calvin klein model before you know it. well that's it for this week. thanks very much for watching. remember you can always get in touch with me anytime with your thoughts or comments. feel free to drop us line on facebook, twitter, or email. always great to hear from you. but for now it's goodbye from me, and the whole team here. and do join us next week for more personal stories from all over europe.