♪ anchor: welcome to our special end-of-year edition of "focus on europe." and what a turbulent year it was, full of challenges for the continent and its people. we are taking a look back at the people who impressed and inspired us in 2017. people who summon supernatural powers, dare to take on new challenges in old age, flee from their homeland, fight for animal rights, and who fearlessly put their faith first. one of these special people is the monk mikhail sannikov. he lives and worships high up in the russia's urals, where a battle of biblical proportions is taking ace.

david vers goliath. his tiny buddhist monastery has taken on a mighty steel corporation, one that has their sights set on the monks' little piece of enlightenment. yet the company has no spiritual deeds in mind. their interests are purely economic. [bell ringing] reporter: in shad chup ling, morning begins with meditation. in a cloister high on mount katchkanar, we meet with young buddhists, men and women who live in accordance with buddha's teachings. [wind blowing ] [. barking -- dog barking] this guy has been peacefully meditating here for 20 years. but the peace and quiet could soon be disturbed, because the mountain here contains iron ore, and the lure of profits for the steel industry at the foot of mount katchkanar. the temple, and the whole mountain, is in danger.

♪ >> this mountain is five-and-a-half-billion years old. no one has the right to own it. i've been living here for so long. so i'm staying here. reporter: up to now, only blocks of ice are crushed here daily, for water to make tea. but soon, machines could be brought here to demolish the buddhist temple and dig for iron. the monks and nuns are resolved to remain calm. especially this man, whom they respectfully call lama. michail sannikow founded this holy spot 20 years ago, but the congregation is not officially recognized. [murmuring] most buddhists in russia are part of the ethnic community of

the buryats in siberia, or live in the altai range at the mongolian border, but not here in the urals. the authorities regard the residents of shad chup ling as illegal squatters who will have to leave mount katchkanar soon. master sannikow responds to this as his faith teaches him. >> buddhism teaches us to accept things as they are. so if you encounter a bad person, maybe you only think he's bad. but he could be a good family man, a great dad, or a fantastic lover, or simply have really snazzy shoes. something about him has to be good. reporter: but the monks and nuns don't thin wou be a good thing to destroy mount katchkanar. they say the iron-or

e deposits aren't rich enough to feed the 40,000 residents of the city of katchkanar, at the foot of the mountain, for years. the steel manufacturer and the local government disagree. minerals have been mined in this region for more than 50 years. no one here can imagine a life without mining. >> when i was still in school, my parents said, 'the mine is your future. you can always get a job there.' i still have this job, and i hope to keep it. otherwise i'd have to leave the city or turn to crime to get money. i don't have any other choice. i have to feed my family. reporter: the mined ore is immediately crushed, separated,

concentrated, and sent to the gigantic steel plants in nizhni tagil, in the central ural mountains. without freshly-mined ore, production ceases, and with it revenues and jobs. that's why the steel industry regards the disappearance of the buddhist temple as a de deal. >> we think in purely material categories. we don't have anything against the people up there. they're simply illegal, that's all. reporter: the monks and nuns aren't considering moving. they believe in the holy path that leads to their temple. they believe they mustn't leave it, but must keep calm and carry on meditating. >> there is nothing more valuable than our ideas, our thinking.

and there are the buddhist teachings. the buddhist teachings help us put things together and understand things. [wind blowing] reporter: for now, buddha is still gazing peacefully into the distance, but a storm is brewing and will soon be here. anchor: when the snow melts in the spring, we'll see if their struggle is successful. lina alvarez had to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds to fulfill one of her greatest desires. with the help of in-vitro fertilization, or ivf, she was able to have her much-longed-for little girl. but her use of both a donor egg and sperm is not without controversy, because lina was 62 years old at the time. her pregnancy at such an advanced age has ignited a heated debate in her native country, spain.

reporter: lina alvarez has become a mother once again, at the age of 62. she named her daughter lina, after herself. baby lina started out as an embryo conceived from donated egg and sperm cells in a test tube, and implanted in the womb after her mother-to-be underwent hormone therapy. >> i still can't believe it. it's like magic, and she's already seven months old. the whole family is overjoyed. reporter: she had her first child at age 34, but her son exiquio was born mentally disabled. her marriage broke up, and for years afterwards she had no opportunity to have any more children. >> time passed, and with my disabled son, i had a hard time finding another partner. then i started menopause too early. by the time i realized it, i was

42 and couldn't have any more children. reporter: to lina alvarez, it was a blessing that spain allowed her to use donor eggs. she's had two babies using this methher son samuel, who's now in school, and baby lina. the family is well-known in their hotown lugo in galicia, and a hot topic for debates on late motherhood throughout spain. many see it as selfish to have children at such an advanced age. >> by the time the children are 20, they probably won't have any parents anymore. it's tough on the kids to have such old parents. reporter: but lina alvarez doesn't feel like a grandmother. she feels that it's a sign of progress to be able to have babies this way. >> for heaven's sake, i don't know what's selfish about it.

i'm just as much there for my children, and my experience is a great advantage. that speaks in favor of having children at my age. reporter: more and more women in spain are having babies later in life. private fertility clinics like this one in madrid, charge around 8,000 euros for the procedure. it involves implanting fertilized eggs from anonymous donors. but unlike other countries, spain sets no legal age limit. even so, doctors often refuse to perform the procedure on women over 50. they have even signed a voluntary agreement. >> of course, we now have the ability to initiate pregnancies in women over 60. but we also want healthy children, and the probablility of giving birth to a healthy child drops in women over the age of 50. reporter: legal expert carlos romeo casabona sees the

voluntary agreement as useless. he's a member of the spanish commission for reproductive medicine. he's disappointed that the commission couldn't push through an age limit when the legislation about assisted reproduction was passed in 2006. >> i personally detailed the problems associated with late pregnancies for the health minister. but they didn't want to set an age limit because of a woman's right to self-determination. >> nobody cares if a man becomes a father at 70, but they do if a mother does. of course, the mother's responsibility is greater. she plays a more important role, at least i think so, even if she shouldn't. reporter: at 85 years, spanish women have one of the world's highest life expectancies. so lina alvarez may well be able

to see her daughter far into adulthood. anchor: over the past year, we've witnessed a further decline in democracy in turkey, a deterioration in both press and personal freedoms. ever since the failed coup in 2016, and the aggression shown towards anyone perceived as a critic to the government, many turkish people feel like strangers in their own country. particularly if they work in industries considered liberal or progressive. many actors and artists now complain that the istanbul arts scene is dominated by a climate of fear. this caused the celebrated turkish actor and intellectual kemal kocaturk to pack up his family and go into a self-imposed exile here in germany. a departure into a new life, and into the unknown. reporter: the kocaturks are packing up.

kemal and his wife ayca, a pianist, are leaving their house in istanbul. their flight to berlin is in just a few hours. along with their two daughters damla and yasemin, they are starting a new life. >> the kids made this, but we can't take everything with us. it makes me so sad, but that's life. you always have to leave something behind. reporter: the kocaturk family is leaving behind their house with a yard, on the edge of the city near the black sea. after her husband had a guest performance in berlin, they decided to move to the german capital. the german consulate in istanbul granted them a six-month artist visa that allows them to seek employment in germany. ever since the failed coup, the situation has escalated dangerously.

>> i was so worried about him. we see how people are simply arrested at night and locked away. i couldn't stop thinking about it. reporter: the neighbors have come to say goodbye. they can understand the kocaturk's decision. many turks are considering leaving the country. >> let them go ahead and see what it's like. and then we can visit them and see how they're doing. reporter: then, it's time to say goodbye, not only to their house and their best friends, but somehow, also, to their entire life as they had known it. berlin, two weeks later. the kocaturk family was able to stay in an acquaintance's apartment at first. they have already found their own apartment and will be moving soon. but they still haven't found

work. >> even before leaving, i had said my opportunities would be limited here in germany. t bei won'to earn moneas easily he with my turkish plays. but the difference is, at least i can try. reporter: it's time for their appointment at the berlin immigration authority. it's about their residence permit. will the family be allowed to stay? and if so, for how long? the kocaturks hope they've gathered all the right papers, certifications from theaters that want to work with kemal, confirmations from the daughters' schools, bank statements. >> this appointment at the immigration office is making me a bit nervous. we can't speak german yet, so i don't feel comfortable at appointments like this. reporter: behind these office windows, the decision will be

made if germany will give the kocaturks a chance. after an hour-and-a-half, they come back out, happy and relieved. >> it went great. we were granted a two-year stay. reporter: an evening in a bar in kreuzberg. ayca and kemal kocaturk are visiting the regular turkish expat meet-up for the first time. they can recognize several familiar faces among the journalists, artists and writers. and each week, new political refugees arrive from turkey. >> now, i just want to enjoy this freedom. here, nobody interferes in your life. therdoesn't seem to be aggression here, nobody shouting. it's so peaceful. i could live like this. reporter: tonight is kemal kocaturk's first small performance in berlin.

he recites turkish poems, accompanied by a saz. the kocaturks are now part of the turkish expat community in berlin. here they will find help and support. yet despite all optimism, they are all united in their longing for home, and worry for those left behind. ♪ anchor: the kocaturk family has now found their own home and even received their first engagements. are you looking forward to the new year and all the surprises it has in store? or would you rather know exactly what to expect? in the carpathians of ukraine, many people believe in the supernatural powers of soothsayers and folk healers, of whom they call molfars. the tradition is deeply rooted in the region. they heal, predict the future,

and are even consulted on political matters. our reporter met one of them, magdalena, and felt surprisingly enchanted. reporter: the landscape around the settlement of verkhovyna in the carpathians is remote and magical. so it's perhaps understandable that the region is associated with magic. this is magdalena mochiovski. she is a molfarka, as the female molfar are known. she personifies the secret knowledge of her homeland. >> you can't become a molfar, you have to be born one. molfars have sacred knowledge that is passed down for generations. reporter: people here have always been religious. there are 40 churches for some 30,000 people, and their faith predates christianity.

magdalena shows us the tools of her trade. a nail pendulum, a dull knife, and herbs. she says she can use these things to heal people. oracle bones are used to foretell the future. they come from rabbits. this one helps ward off the evil eye. >> you can recognize a witch by looking through a witch bone. reporter: we buy some bread and water. we're supposed to keep them overnight so that a molfar can read the future. we're skeptical. people in the carpathians earn money from tourism and timber. their spirituality is heavily influenced by ancient practices.

magic and shamanism have learned to co-exist here alongside christianity, or is the other way around? molfars use christian symbols as well. and they mix prayers in with ancient spells. there's something amiss between this woman, pawla, and her neighbor. only magic will help. dovbush, the molfar, uses a pendulum to make the diagnosis. >> show me who is my friend and who is my enemy. do you feel something on your palm? warmth. you have a good friend who envies you your work. reporter: before things get really serious, pawla has to put a coin on the side of the path. it's a toll for demons. then dovbush and pavla withdraw. >> burn, burn, my black pain. don't forget to burn the queen of pain. return to her, torture her, punish h, don't e her during the day or the night.

reporter: pavla says she's relieved. molfar dovbush has promised her neighbor's envy will disappear. reporter: faith and superstition are as inseparable as smoke and air in the carpathians. recently molfars have been conjuring on behalf of their entire country, ukraine, which is waging war against separatists in the east. magdalena recites a spell for protection. >> just as smoke leaves fire, so shall the enemy leave our borders, today and for all time. reporter: we head on by horse-drawn cart to a town high up in the mountains, to see another celebrated molfarka. this woman is 72, but people still come to her. she doesn't want to tell our fortune today but does show us how it's done.

>> you need bread. it's put three times into water, and you count from nine to one. if everything's fine, the bread will float. if not, it sinks. reporter: but we've come during fasting season, and it's forbidden to practice magic right now. the woman says that politicians also have their fortunes told, but she's careful around them. politicians from kyev resportedly also consulted the famous molfar mykhailo nechay. five years ago he was discovered stabbed to death. magdalena believes it was a political assassination. >> he knew ukraine's future, and he spoke many times of a war that was about to break out. so they probably decided to kill him, so his secrets would go to the grave with him. reporter: whatever the truth, magic hasn't been able to protect ukraine from war. ♪

anchor: magic may not have been able to prevent conflict in ukraine, but a farmer in switzerland has decided to use another ancient method of summoning protection, lobbying the government. armin capaul loves his animals and believes that cows have rights. and has made it his mission to curtail a practice he considers unnecessarily cruel. he has even taken his fight all the way to the swiss parliament. ♪ reporter: alpine farmer armin capaul has never followed the crowd. he's a free spirit who's always done his own thing. and he's someone who usually gets what he wants, sooner or later. and what he wants now is that cows get to keep their horns. although they're all born with horn nubs, in switzerland eight

out of 10 calves are dehorned. this is often painful for the cattle. [bell ringing] for armin capaul, it's clearly cruelty to animals. >> the creator equipped cows with horns, so for me it's only natural that they belong to the animal. reporter: so he started campaigning to let swiss cows hold on to their horns. for years he tried to do this through petitions, but the authorities and the politicians wouldn't listen. so he launched his hornkuh, or horned cow initiative, and against all odds collected more than 150,000 signatures, enough for a referendum on the matter. in a few months, switzerland's over-five-million eligible

voters will decide. and armin capaul stands a good chance of winning, despite opposition from the government, parliament and the association of swiss cattle breeders. >> it can't be that something like whether cows have horns or not becomes part of constitution. look at these cows here, how they're all standing around us, so calm and peaceful. i don't think these animals are lacking for anytng. and cows with horns significantly raise the risk of accident s. reporter: capaul knows he can't ban dehorning entirely. he jokes that if he tried to do that, someone might set fire to his cow stall. instead, he's seeking financial assistance for farmers who let cattle keep their horns. that's because these cows need more space in the stall than dehorned ones. [dog barking] his opponents say capaul's initiatve would cost 30 million swiss francs. >> where would the money come from? it'd have to be taken out of domestic agriculture.

there certainly wouldn't be any more direct payments, or subsidies. and that would mean more discontent amongst farmers. reporter: but the battle against dehorning is really about creating more nature-oriented agriculturfighting for. now he must find funding for his referendum campaign. he's paid everything himself so far. but now his wife has taken the bull by the horns, and forbidden him from doing it again. anchor: that's all from us here at "focus on europe." on behalf of the whole team, we wish you a very happy 2018. let's make it a good one. thanks for watching. ♪