>> hello and a very warm welcome to this edition of "european journal" coming to you from dw studios in brussels. here's what's coming up on today's show -- turkey -- when underage girls are forced into marriage. germany -- where lights are damaging to health. and italy -- the link between the mafia and toxic waste. if you want to get married legally, you have to have reached a certain age.

in most countries, that's 18. also in turkey, but in the rural southeast of the country, an increasing number of girls are forced into marriage when they are a lot younger. someone hundred 80,000 young girls were married against their will recently. that's the official figure. women's organizations say in reality a lot more girls are affected. two months ago, the mysterious death of a child bride in turkey revived the debate over the issue, and more and more women are beginning to tell tragic stories of their own experience as child brides. >> when she was just 14 years old, she was forced to become a child bride. it should have been her sister, but when the groom suspected her of no longer being a virgin, he took her back to her family and insisted on marrying the younger girl in said. >> in the first night in the

bedroom, i kept thinking, "what is the same thing happens to me as to my sister?" i could not move. they told me i would get used to it, to what happened to me, but how could i ever get used to that? >> she comes from a city on the turkish iraqi border. among the poorest regions in turkey, almost one and two girls are married before they turn 18. one third don't meet their future husbands until the wedding. in instances where the girls' age prevents a civil marriage, it's generally possible to find a cleric willing to perform the ceremony, although theoretically, it could land them in prison for six months. the chief cleric here denies marrying off any children, but he also says age is not that

relevant. >> children in colder parts of the world do not develop as those in warmer regions. if there is any doubt, we ask for a medical certificate, which tells us whether a girl is mature enough to marry. >> most visitors to this mother and child day care center were child brides. they come here to get advice from social workers and doctors in the education of their own children. workers here are keen to prevent history repeating itself. >> when they marry young, they are minors and afraid. after the wedding, they think their lives belong to their husbands, and they do not dare to take a single step without them, but with a little explanation and education, they discover their individuality and

understand that they have rights, and then they are willing to protect their own girls. >> it took a long time for her to find some kind of liberation. she went back to school and is now raising three children on her own. the man she was married to is still her husband but now lives in western turkey. she now works with an organization that speaks out against forced marriage. big it's her hope to see the issue discussed publicly. >> there's a television series called "little bride," about a girl who is married at the same age and in the same way i was. it always reminds me of what happened to me. >> the tv show airs on a private turkish channel during prime time on sundays. the story revolves around a

13-year-old girl who is torn from her childhood and forced to marry an older man. so far, it has been on for 30 episodes. the protagonist is played by an 11-year-old schoolgirl from istanbul who had no prior awareness that there were places in turkey where girls her age are forced to marry. her real life and screen life are worlds apart. >> the most difficult thing so far was the marriage. it was not easy to act that, and i felt really uncomfortable. pretty much everyone finds it bad when girls marry so early. hopefully, the series will put a stop to it. >> of the 70 or so series being screened on turkish television, "little bride" is the fifth most watched. in the latest episode, the child bride's in-laws are summoned by the police, but they claim the

child is much older than she is. in the real world, many adored -- many adults force their daughters' birth certificates in order to merit them off quickly. it is such realities that women's organizations are working to highlight. with an exhibition about minors forced into marriage is staged, it's a magnet for teachers and their pupils. the girls know what it's all about. >> when a girl of my age is seen with a boy, she is sometimes taken out of school and merit off, but my family is not like that. they want me to finish school. >> she is also at the exhibition. her own marriage was annulled, but in this deeply religious region, remarrying even for love is not allowed to cause a child ride remains a child bride for life -- because a child bride

remains a child bride for life. >> the eu and u.s. reacted with disbelief when the citizens of crimea decided to join russia in a referendum. the west dismissed the referendum as a legal. eu and u.s. politicians said russia is effectively annexing crimea. the west imposed sanctions as a reaction against russian and crimean politicians, who are no longer allowed to travel into the eu and the u.s. and whose accounts are now frozen, but those sanctions hardly seem to have impressed russia's president, vladimir putin. he has been dreaming of a bigger russia for a long time and seems to be prepared to take risks to make his dream come true. >> is he obsessed with what he considers his historic mission? is he taking cold-blooded advantage of weak opponents in a geopolitical chess game? is he simply a macho megalomaniac, or is he still, ties by a difficult childhood as a skinny boy in petersburg who

beefed up his ego with martial arts? a former member of vladimir putin's human rights council believes vladimir putin is a product of his childhood. >> putin has the psyche of a street urchin. he grew up on the streets of petersburg where the code is that the week to victimize. he had to react in order to not look like a weakling. >> the european union is aghast that he has not ruled out sending russian soldiers into parts of ukraine beyond crimea. >> if we should decide to come to the defense of ukrainian citizens, i would like to see the ukrainian soldiers who shoot women and children when we are standing behind them. >> then, putin simply denied that russian soldiers were in crimea. one biographer agrees that his

worldview is a part of his life story. >> it's not only childhood experiences but also his time as deputy mayor of petersburg. that's where he learned all the tricks of the criminal million -- mill you -- criminal milieu. >> it's thought that russian special forces without insignia are besieging ukraine while the west seems paralyzed. >> his political experience differs from the mentally -- fundamentally from that of european politicians. for them -- for him, the more brazen you act, the more likely your success. >> putin has recently been obsessed with his future place in russian history books. he wants to go down in history as the leader who gave crimea back to russia.

>> the disintegration of the soviet union was a historical tragedy for putin when he was a young kgb agent. now he occupies territories and risks a new cold war all to restore russia's former power. >> the putin phenomenon is his inferiority complex mirrors that of the russian population, which also still suffers from the collapse of the soviet union. >> even german chancellor angela merkel criticized putin unusually harshly on thursday or the rapid alienation between moscow and berlin -- for the rapid alienation between moscow and berlin. >> putin is deeply wounded. at the pinnacle of his power, he has to hear hurtful words and that from people who do not even have atomic weapons.

pardon me, but who does germany think it is? didn't it lose the war? >> meanwhile, 14 years of almost unlimited power have shaped putin. closest to him are not wife and children but military men and secret agents who have become fabulously wealthy. is it session with violence of secured his view of reality. putin and his powerful friends control the media and thus opinion in russia. >> two months of massive television propaganda have transformed the image of ukraine from a brother nation into a horde of -- just, despicable slaves of the west, corrupted by its interest -- a horde of fascists, despicable slaves of the west. >> opposition demonstrators are no longer a danger to putin.

>> psychiatry decides the phenomenon of the caesar complex . you encountered no resistance for years and think you will experience none ever again. roman emperor caligula appointed his horse as senator. >> his last inauguration in office in the kremlin. putin gets what he wants. those who know him say he has no inhibitions about taking drastic measures. >> after dusk, nocturnal life awakens on our continent. in this edition of our series "europe by night" we take a look at what happens if it never really gets dark. everybody knows the satellite images from space. the world's big cities are clearly visible because of the many sources of light.

in more and more cities, the lights do not go off at all. >> the group that is stalking along here in the middle of the night is armed. silently, the men and women take up positions in the center of hamburg in the middle of a church. >> are you ready? take your places. lights on! >> it's an ambush with light. the christ church, which is usually not illuminated at night, is it actively set in seen -- effectively set in scene. >> we want to draw attention to this place, this building, and its historical façade. the effect would probably be very different if it were illuminated professionally, but this is what we can achieve with our lamps, these guerrilla weapons. >> these nighttime maneuvers are

called guerrilla lighting. young lighting designers organize these events last mob style -- flashmob-style. they raise the question of where light can and should be used effectively. it's a revolution with light. the city of hamburg got the message. it started dispatching people liked this man to check out how bright the lights of hamburg are at night. shops have signs that really burned into your eyes. >> i measure the light density in candelas per square meter. that's the measure of brightness as perceived by the human eye. 300 to 400 would be enough to draw attention to this apple logo.

>> for two years, hamburg wrote letters informing apple of the light aleutian. -- the light pollution. the company refused to take action. our own inquiries get a similar answer -- no comment. in many cities, there is a real lighting war under way in the competition for the attention of customers, but most of the light shines upwards. from space, we can see the streetlights in particular shine in the wrong direction. the result is that you can hardly see the stars anymore in cities. without light aleutian -- pollution, the night sky in hamburg could look like this. but it is not just about seeing the stars. it is also about the health and well-being of urban dwellers. researchers in berlin are studying their patients' sleep patterns. during their night shifts, the doctors use themselves as guinea

pigs subjected to special lighting situations. after the light exposure, they study their own sleep patterns. >> given small amounts of light, which we are exposed to everywhere in daily life, can lead to changes in physiology including the structure of the brain. >> the list of diseases caused by artificial light ranges from depression to diabetes and even cancer. >> there's a high probability that for people who are already predisposed to developing these illnesses, artificial light is the thing that tips the balance. >> that's why hamburg's city lighting advisor is calling for intelligent concepts for preserving the darkness of night

. >> the fact that lights are not turned down in the evening, the eyes much more sensitive, and the light draws a lot of insects -- that creates a level of light pollution which is not acceptable. >> the fighters from guerrilla lighting are looking for their next target. if light and precious energy were saved elsewhere, other parts of the city could really be seen in their let -- their best light. >> racketeering, drug trafficking, forced prostitution -- the mafia is behind many different crimes in italy, but in recent years, they have intensified their activity in one economic sector. the mafia is estimated to make more than 18 billion euros a year with illegal deals on dumping waste. the region compiled yet is one of those that are firmly in the

grip of the secret societies linked to the mafia -- the region campagna. a former mafia boss, of all people, is speaking out and urging authorities to take action. >> we are in southern italy, en route to a secret location to visit a key mafia witness. for the first time ever, he talks to german television about toxic waste from germany. when he greets us and talked about his organic garden, it is almost possible to forget the blood he has on his hands as the former leader of a notorious clan. he only eats homegrown produce, and with good reason -- his clan buried toxic wastes on agricultural land. >> i don't even eat canned tomatoes anymore. >> the clan is the most feared in the area around naples.

he has traded in weapons and speaks openly about hundreds of compact desk contract killings, at least a dozen of which bore his personal stamp. >> we shot them with pistols, machine pistols, and other guns, and we dissolved the bodies in acid. we also strangled them or buried them in places where they still have not been found. >> he shows no remorse for the murders he committed, but he is less easy with the fact that people have been poisoned as a result of his clan contaminating farming land. when he tried to stop his cronies getting involved in the lucrative toxic waste business, they betrayed him to the police. he has been a witness ever since

. 20 years ago, he confessed to his clan having illegally disposed of tons of waste, not only in landfill sites, but on a large gayle in fruit and vegetable land -- on a large scale. the mafia still buries the waist, dumps it on the streets around naples, or sets it alight . the contaminated area of toxic fumes has been dubbed fire land. >> you will find normal garbage and toxic waste of every description including nuclear waste. people have less than 20 years to live before it all goes up. >> studies indicate an increase in the incidence of cancer. many local children have died as a result of tumors. their mothers blame the nuclear and toxic waste. they wear pictures of their loved ones or have their names

tattooed to their skin. >> it's the only way we can keep the memory of our children alive . >> practically every family has one member with cancer. it's not normal that so many people under the age of 50 have a tumor. the state cannot pretend that nothing is wrong when this is happening on our soil. >> in 1997, a parliamentary investigative committee was informed about highly toxic and radioactive waste in the ground. it was reported that trucks arrived from germany carrying nuclear sludge which was indeed into garbage pits -- and eat -- emptied into garbage pits. does the trail lead back to germany? back then, the italian authorities went the mafioso to

germany for weeks, and he was interrogated. >> there were no cigarette butts on the ground, but there were garbage cans everywhere. it was so clean that it was almost disgusting. i had never seen anything like that in italy. i was staying at a hotel, and it was a swimming pool, a disco, and a restaurant, but most of the time, we would eat at the italian place. >> the police officer and key witness expert spent time getting to know the mafioso to get him to talk. >> after the official interrogations, we would go out and eat together or go to an event or on a city tour of munich. >> you also went to the casino, didn't you? >> i cannot rule it out.

>> the precise testimony led to several investigations and arrests. >> i consider him to be entirely credible. that is his asset. >> i also spoke to the germans about the radioactive waste. >> we would need to check exactly where he made those statements. all i can say is that it was not in my interrogations. >> both the state criminal police office and federal intelligence service say he did not talk about waste -- his word against theirs. we asked a nuclear waste expert if it is possible the mafia got rid of radioactive waste from germany. >> it's very possible the mafia disposed of german nuclear waste . >> it came in led boxes -- lead boxes about 50 or 60 millimeters

long, about this high and this wide. >> judging by the description of the boxes, it's likely they contained highly radioactive gamma emitters, material used in industry research, nuclear technology, medicine, or by the army. >> i know the boxes from germany had an eagle on them. >> the former manager of a refuse site tells us how it toxic waste was generally buried -- how toxic waste was originally buried. >> it would arrive in the early morning, and they took arrives. some of them showed up in cars that cost 20 times their salary. >> one police officer has been following the case for 20 years. he went to where the nuclear waste is supposedly buried, and that could explain why he has

cancer, which has now been acknowledged as an occupational illness, but his report was left in the drawer. >> i advised the parliament but then was repeatedly demoted until i was doing office work. was that a coincidence? >> the statements were dubbed secret for 16 years. now contaminated vegetable fields have been seized, and the search is on for hazardous waste , but where to begin? even the former mafioso is afraid. >> i bake my own bread because the bread in the stores could be contaminated. >> that report wraps up this edition of "european journal." we hope you have enjoyed the show. thanks for watching. until next week, auf wiedersehen and bye for now.

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