>> you're watching france 24. thousands of turks are gathered in istanbul as it hosts friday prayers for the first time since the 1930's. originally built as a christian cathedral in the sixth century, the building became a mosque and was eventually turned into a museum by turkey's secular founder. its status changed earlier this month after a ruling by turkey's highest court. president erdogan has long championed it which has been criticized in the west end by orthodox christians in russia, greece, and elsewhere. it is a different story in istanbul. take a listen. >> we are ending our longing after 86 years today. we have been waiting for the opening for so long. thanks to our president and the decision of the court, todaday,e

will have our prior prayers -- our friday prayers here. >> we are witnessing history today. today is the day that i guess sophia is returning back to its origin, a structure that served as a mosque is returning b backo its origins after being converted to a museum. was over inter istanbul at the highest -- at the idea sophia. -- hagia sophia. president erdogan is taking center stage. talk us through his position on this issue. got [ [inaudible] when the opposition won control of istanbul and on kura. erdogan used to be the mayor of istanbul. the istanbul election was re-held in june, and then a smalall islamic party told his

voters to vote for the secular opposition, rather than for erdogan's party. thatat was even more of a shock. since e then, twtwo of erdogan' former lieutenants, a former deputy prime minister and former prime minister, have broken away from erdogan and formed their own party. erdogan is under pressure, and today's move in the hagia sophia is an attempt to rally the right-wing votes behind him. >> other than the religious groups, how important is this move to people in turkey? there is a group in turkey for whom islam is very important, and they see this move as a victory for islam over secularism, over christianity, but there is another group, much bigger than turkey, a group of

muslims who are more concerned for the realities of daily life, unemployment running at 13% there are 4 million people without jobs in turkey, and inflation is 12.6 percent. the economy is forecast to contract this year. while the religiously minded today,are celebrating tomorrow, everybody will have to face these problems. for that reason, the second-biggest opposition party has condemned the changing of hagia sophia into a mosque, and attempts to what it calls "cover up" the realitieses of unememployment and poverty in turkey. , reporting from istanbul. china has been defending its decision to order thehe u.s.

embassy in the citity of chengdu to close. china claims u.s. embassy staff there were interfering in international affairs, following a similar move from the trump administration ordering the chinese embassy in the city of houston to close. chinese agents are trying to steal trying -- - an accusation that scientists are trying to steal research. >> it is the latest move in the ongoing diplomatic spat between china and the united states. beijing ordered the closure of the u.s. consulate in the southwestern city of chengdu. it says itit was a legitimate ad necessary response to what he calls unreasonable action taken by washington. >> [speaking foreign language] >> established in 1985, the consulates have more than 200 members of staff and is considered strategically

important due to ask proximity to to bet. the moves come -- the move comes after washington or china closes its embassy in houston. u.s. . secretary y of state mike pompeo further escalated tensions in an aggressive speech where he branded beijing as a threat to the free world. >> we, the freedom loving nations of the world's, must induce china to change just as president nixon wanted. and more creativive and assertie ways because beijijing's actions threaten our people and prosperity, securing our freedoms from the chinese communist party is the mission of our time and america is set to lead it. new boilingare at a point. the trump administration repeatedly clashed with aging over trade and its handling of

the coronavirus, as well as a controversial new security law in h hong kong for uighur musli. >> president trump has canceled the republican convention in florida, blaming the coronavirus flareup, the number of americans infected -- flareup. the number of americans infected past 4 million. held ans had already entirely virtual convention where joe biden will formally accept the party nomination ahead of novemember's election. trump said it was not the e rigt time to hold a gathering. pres. trump: i looked at my team and said, "the timing for this evenent is not right." it is not right with what happened recently with the flare up in florida to have a big convention. it is not the right time. it is really something that, for me, i have to protect the american people. at'ss is -- that is what i have

always done, what i will do, and what i am about. >> trump and biden will face-off for the presidency in november. president mccrone is chairing a meeting on the latest coronavirus measures, mask, testing, and border control on the agenda. france is reporting a rise inin cases asas people had offer ther holidays. more than 1000 you infections were recorded thursday alone, and a 66% rise in new gases over the last six weeks. palaceorter is at the were talks are taking place. >> two main issues on the table when the defense counsel meets, testing and border control. on testing, the government admits they have not achieved their target of 700,000 covid tests per week. they are hoping to announce they can get closer to the target. on the question a border control, the important thing to know is that the number of cases in france has been rising slowly

but steadily in the past few weeks. yesterday, over 1000 new cases of covid-19 reported in france, partly because more people are traveling to france for their summer holidays. something likely to be considered today by the defense counsel is mandating pcr test, covid tests, already arriving into the country, 72 hours before they get here, to ensure they are not inadvertently carrying the virus. one of the problems is that most of the people coming to france at the moment are coming from within the eu area where there are no border checks at all. a l little earlier this week, a government spokesperson was asked, "would you consider border checks or closing france's borders to prevent a big spike in covid-19?" he said at this meeting, nothing is off of the table. >> aside from killing tens of thousands of people around the world, the coronavirus pandemic is having a devastating impact on the environment.

therere has been n a huge incree in single-use plastic, gloves, masks, and other debris is finding its way into the ocean. a new report says as governments and companies take action, pollution in the world's ocean could triple by 2040. we have the story. >> i grim outlook for the world's oceans, the amount of plastic waste which could end up no action iss if taken is expected toto increase threefold for the current 11 million tonss to 29 million tons inin the next two dedecades. >> plasticic pollutition is something that affects everyone. it is not t a "your proroblem ad not my problemem." it is nonot one countrtry'ss pr, it is everyone's problem. because all people, all communities, all governments around the wororld r recognize t is the problemem. it is impacting communities. the biggest problem to all of ththis is it will get worse if e

do notot do anytything. >> the coronavirus pandemic increased consumption levels of single-use plastic. gloves, asand latex well as an increased amount of takeaway food contatainers have worsened the problem. havingplastic production that has i increased e exponenty from the 1950's. figures show 348 million tons of plastic was produced. that figure could double by 2040, ununless somethingng drasc isis done. >> our report is fairly strong in sayingg the most efefficient solution t to get out t of the crisisis is in fact t do you materialize. >> while some governments -- is to dematerialize. >> while some governments -- those pledges still fall short. plastiche ocean byby 80%, paper or possible alternatives are needed. claims -- iran claims

two fighter jets came dangerously close to a passenger plane. u.s. offffials deny y the f-15s put the airflight in danger during the incident over syria. iran a regionally blamed israel. -- iran originally blamed israel. >> video on social media showed moments of terror as an iranian passenger jet appeared to suddenly drop altitude. the footage shows at leasast one man with a head injury, blood running down his face. >> [speaking foreign language] >> [speaking foreign language] footage from inside of the plane also showed what appeared to be a black fighter jet off in the distance. iran state media initially blamed the incident on israel, but later said two u.s. fighter jets came so close to the airflight that the pilot had to quickly change altitude to avoid

a c collisision, injuring severl people on b board. but, the u.s. disputes the accounts, sing the fighter jet came within a safe distance of the plane. u.s. navy captain bill and, a central command spokesperson, said the f-15 fighter jet conducted a standard visual inspection of an air passenger airliner at a safe distance of approximately 1000 meters from the airliner. once the f-15 pilot identify the passesenger plane, the f-15 safely opened distatane from t aircrcraft. the iranian flight was traveling from tehran to beieirut and land safely at its destination. some of the passengers were reported to have suffered minor injuries. thee incident is bound to furthr escalate tensions between the u.s. and iran, which worsened since 2018 when u.s. president donald trump exited the iran nuclear deal and reimposed

sanctions that battered iran's economy. >> major league babaseball is bk in t the united states. the season-opening was pope owned -- was postponed because of coronavirus and in line with restrictions, the first game was played before an empty stadium. -- new york nikes beat york yankees beat the washington nationals four to one. >> a powerful moment to baseball , players, managers, and coaches from the new york yankees and washington nationals, taking any -- a knee. the showed solidarity comes after the killing of george floyd sparked a regional theoning in new -- in united states. both teams wanted to call an end to police brutality and racism. the opening game was played with thempty stadium to limit spread of covid-19. dr. anthony fauci t through the

ceremonial open pitch. many fans say they are happy that baseball is back. >> plans had to change.. this is like a small little bit of normalcy, and it is very exciting. it is cautioious optimism, righ? that iss how everyone is living their lives thesese days. setting limits to stadium capacity for when fans return. the u.s. president praised the comeback of baseball after a four month hiatus, saying it is psychologically important for the country. >> that isist for the e news t s hourur. you're watching france 24, stay with us. ♪ with the number ofof covid cases in the u.s. topping 4 million, what happens between now and november in the presidential election? this temples highest -- this hagia's -- istanbul's

sophia converted into a must. that and more, coming up -- mos -- mosque. that 10 more coming up. >> welcome to the france 24 interview. our guest is a german anthropologist, and he is the man behind the series of chilling revelations of chinese policies in the autonomous region against the uighur athletic-- we are muslim -- uighur muslim ethnic group. he joins us from minnesota. thank you for being with us today. >> thank you. >> as you first reported, uighurs being forced into concentration camps. earlier this year, you reported

about forced labor, and in your latest revelations, published in the u.s., you described the birth control policies put in that region, but those are very harsh and drastic policies. can yoyou tell us what you foun? i firstly noticed populatioion growowth and birthrates in the region ocean john -- in t the region but particular in the uighur r region have fallen drdramatically. betweenensome caseses 100%, 2015 and 2018, and were declining fufurther in 201019. p populations dramamatic decline is notot just connectedo the mpmpaign of masass internrnment betetween one andn2 milln n uighur adults have been swepept into reeducation camps,

but i did find significant evidence that birth susuppssion and d mass ererilization is a systematic govevernment policy.y. the state has publblished documents i was able to uncover that s say that thee who violale birth h control are punished by being puput into intnmnment cam, and women are facing mandatory plplacements of contraceptive devices s into their uterus. foundtwo weeks, i mass female sterilization for 2019. >> writes, because what you describe is quite terrific -- right, because what you describe is quite terrific. what those women have gone through, it is not only a plan, it seems it has been implemented. we are talking about mass aryl is asian, policies -- sterilization, policies put in place that have had a drastic effect on population growth.

on the ethnic composition of the area as well, of course. >> yes. unfortununately, this is a a wir game plan of e ethnic, racial supremacy by the central governmentnt in being. after the armies ococcupied the area in 1949, t tre were mimillions of settlers sent into the area, flooding them with a highgh populatn.n. momore recently, the uighurr populationon growth had been stronger and they had bebeen stripping population growth. nonow, thehe government is doino things, , brutally supuppressing zereror birthrates, closee to in many cases, a and sececondlyy analalysis has shown u up to approximatelely 2 milillion additional migrants frfrom eastn china, almost all l of them

chininese, have been lured to me shinjun of free housing anand free land. itit is first prevention of minorities coupled with the strategygy of settleler colonia. >> w would you use the word ethc cleansing? cleansising is nonot the accurate t term to u use, becaus strictly it memeans a pararticur eaea is being cleansed o of an ethnhnic group. i do not find this to be the case. the strarategy here is one of ethnic mixing and dililution, meaning hanan chinese arm encouragaged to move in with the uighur.. i would however characterize it, tentatively, as a campaign of democratic genocide. loaded is a very word, genocide is not a word one can use lightly. what do you mean by demographic genocide?

genocide is a actual gegenocide. >> the legegal defininition of genocide w was set forth by thte united natations convention undr prevenention and p punishment oe crime g genocide e in 1948. it has fine criteria, and he won criteria, , any one of which is able to qualify jennnna five ift intends to enjnjoy -- intends to destroy a population in whole or partrt. one is the suppression of births from the targeted g group. weweow have clclear and systemac evididence for thihis. i do use t the word demographics a qualifier, because i feel it isppropriate to qualify whwhat is going on. however, demographic genenocides not a legal definition. >> clearly, your data is the key. the chinese media has accused you essentially of fabricating it. you claim you are actually

working on direct chinese sources. has that been the case for all of your discovery, and how do you do it? >> yes. i started working with chinese govevernment to o over 10 yearag for my phd, andnd i have b been, over time, refining methods and expanding fofocus of research io diffent forms of data. i analyze officially published chchinese statisistical figures, yearbook data, recruitment documents, prorocuremement documements, budgets, plans, and reports, state media sources as well. i often have to use data in combination because the chinese are often trying to hide what they are doing. by piecing thihings togegether, almost like a puzzle, i can often arriveve at very pertinent conclusions. for this report, i was actually able to uover s smoking g gun evevidence, as youigight want to

say, smoking gun evidence meaning specific target figures forr steterilizing so o many thd women i in paicularar areas,, ad it is stated as a mamandatory tatarget. >> has i mentioned, the chinese media have accused you of being an enemy, of far-right catholic firebrand, u.s. intelligence asset, and even threats in the official chinese media of suing you for libel. a s suchyou become controversial person for china? >> i have e become a verery bigg problelem for b beijing, becausy resesearch uncovs anan atrococi. onone of the greatestt ongoing humaman rights violationons of e 21st c century. in m my evidence, i rely on beijijing's own d documents, whh it cannonot refuse. chinese tryy, the

to argue some of my y calculatis are wrong by misrepresenenting ththem. by not p performing the same calculationsns but leaving out e of the t things ii did, by misrepepresenting my work. havaven focus is to try too an a thomaatattack on me --- ann autonomomous attacack on me. china and beijing is desperarate bebecause of my y findings. what else are they going to do? they feel lilike they have to go on the offensive. >> are you scared about a lawsuit or maybe something even darker in terms of threats? someyou been receiving direct threats because of your work? notot received d a direct threat oututside of what chinese state memedia and what the e che mininistry of foreign affffairse said. however, these threats are alreadady entirelyly unpreceden. suchjing never issusued any

threats againstst a foreign academicic and r researcher. i am notot so concerned about te lawswsuit, because thehe laws ae dedecidedly in my favor. i have looked d into it. i think thee probability of beijining engaging in any successful lawsuit agagainst me arare extremely slow. i am howowever taking the momore indirect trends s they have isid quite - -- indirect threats they issueded quite seriously,, and afr r this intnterview, i am meeting up with the local fbi in minnesota. >> what do you think of the world's reaction? we have seen escalating tensions and actions between the u.s. and china. u.s. officials having referred to work. we have seen france quite unusually criticize china because of the latest revelation and ask for some neutral observer to be allowed into shinjen.

do think something is changing in terms of where europe is standing and maybe some other countries. -- countrieses? >> i see a slow change, yeyes. the first t change came in the debate when china numberers were releleased last year. they so bluntntly and directly proved what thesese so-calleded" vocacational interernment campse all about. i ststted to seeee the debate that, afafter these leakeded documents were published lasast yearar, also in europe. with my most t recent research, the word genocide is being used, because one e of the genocide critereria has now b been met. ththis is now, again, shiftitine debatete to a new level. i'm happyo see thatat,n some coununtries, this s is becominge awe. sosociety is becoming more awar, and unfortunately, why? it is the people, i intellectua,

lower-level members s of parliament, mid-level politicians, they are starting to speak up. finanally, francnce's foreign ministryry has spoken up bubut y not

[theme music playing] >> where am i now? oh, god knows. in the middle of nowhehere, i guess.