the school is for young turkish people many of them dream of finding work in turkish television. while john watches his friend at work i try to interview some of the turkish students but they don't feel like talking they'd found out that we were coming and debated whether they should talk to us some said that if they appeared in the same reporters jan it could have their careers. because they would have been talking and somebody says that he was in the course of job. once they get cut off. from the project i think their duty is to these kinds of things as of. mustapha is working on a new project. it's a film about the twenty for teen taksim gazey park protests in istanbul showing how the turkish people rose up against repression. in the summer girls little. break you may be and how they had their hopes dashed. or starve i was among those who tended to the wounded. only to do. good work. we didn't leave our country our country left us. if you still read the book it's not a good feeling gen ducasse of the day i did it you should know your own you work for your country for half a ce

turkish media report that fighting between the the turkish army and its allies is intensifying in the direction of freeing. turkey claims a threat is growing at its. i cry considers the y.p. g. to be the syrian faction of the p.k. k. which sees as a terror group reacting to attack u.s. military attacks in recent days has shelled texas border towns claiming civilian lives while many techs were you for it at the start the mill changed. neither for soldiers nor. for civilians must not have been quoted both sides of the border fear what operationalise branch could still bring. in jones is in istanbul and joins me now from there through the turkish president has spoken out saying that he's ready to target syria's model bridge means the region what is the significance of this for the military operation. for the turkish forces they say it is key is part of their efforts to remove what they say is his tariff right on the southern border of syria but for nato it is a nightmare scenario because a large number of u.s. soldiers are believed to be deployed in mom bitch and this brings a threat of

well if you listen to the turkish officials the. aim of the operation is declared as eliminating the power of why p.j. across northern syria so they define it in a more broad the way but militarily it's an extremely risky move because we can compare this against the turkish military is displayed. performance in albert for example two years ago when they were carrying out an operation against the demoralized isis in a town which is way too similar smaller than a much smaller than our friend bob and it took the operation took three months and i says inflicted heavy casualties on turkish soldiers at that time and also we can compare turkish military capacity in the urban warfare urban clashes inside turkey against probably k.-k. fighters at that time and if you compare this to with afrin which is a much less accessible territory compared to above and a much larger area and turkey will be facing against them and motivated disciplined force which is well armed and in this area is actually a pro predominantly kurdish area so it will all t

the german media has portrayed turkish organizations in germany the turkish people amateurs. nation in a negative light really a negative charges most of the people at the rally believe everyone is doing a great job some told me that when they went back home to visit they found that the government had improved the health care system and builds new roads. there are about three million turks in germany but a larger percentage of them vote for everyone's political party then do turks in turkey and that's been the case for years. that's why john took the referendum campaign very seriously. some people who were opposed to the referendum held rallies. means no turkish but there were just a few dozen people at this one some demonstrations were even cancelled due to low turnout to. these groups were supported by private funding while the prayer referendum groups were backed by president ed one's political party. many people here are willing to criticize the government on camera. but we found the feel when this private club level that it will. hire you know shriya country that i don't

those who see the backing of us will not stand the turkish nation it is our national struggle. is essentially turning on and has allies he's accused the west of providing weapons and ammunition to the kurdish militia he says that aside from five thousand trucks weapons and ammunition from some two thousand planes has been provided the turkish president also saying to quote that his allies are dishonest when they do not admit to the fact that they have been supplying weapons to terrorists and here of course he's referencing the kurdish militia known as the y p g france is calling for an urgent united nations security council meeting while at the same time germany has expressed that it is extremely concerned with these developments particularly saying that the culture lated risks that could result from this confrontation between turkey and the could is something that might mount at the same time we are hearing from the turkish foreign minister who says that anyone who does not support took his actions in the african region essentially is siding with the terrorists and will be dea

killed by by the turkish turkish air strikes and turkish artillery fire and. and likewise on the other side of the border with the kurds fighting back nicolas the it's interesting you know the big elephant in the room we have nato allies against each other so to speak the u.s. president has warned turkey against further escalation in syria and any actions that could lead to a confrontation with the u.s. do you think the president everyone is taking that warning seriously at all. i don't know i think quite honestly he probably. at this point would take the views of the russian and syrian government's more seriously because ultimately. you know the not a whole that the u.s. can do yes they have two thousand and special forces and other forces on the ground there and they. you know they they've been bombing islamic state it's been the heaviest heaviest bombing by the u.s. anywhere for a very long time bombing mosul and rock other areas. but you know that the u.s. is not really in a position to militarily take on the turkish army in northern syria so you know what

we can show you pictures we've received from the turkish syrian border take a look. these are images of turkish rockets fired from the thai province in south of turkey you can also see turkish artillery firing on kurdish positions are trying to break down the situation on the border for us. to get a clearer picture of what's going on between the turks and the kurds along syria's northern border we should look at the map this is where the kurds are the two yellow areas the one on the left is the african region that's the new war zone the turkish army entered it from the north west plus they used airstrikes the green area is where the turkish backed syrian rebels are these are the militias that ankara is counting on on the ground there moving in on afrin from the east turkey's claws are being drawn together turkey has officially made it clear they are determined to create a thirty kilometer buffer zone right here along the border once the actual armed operation is done and dusted there's little doubt that the turks have enough military capabilities for that so the buff

more refugees heading towards the turkish border. the syrian army is now conducting a larger operation in it live and at least two hundred thousand people are fleeing the battlefield and they heading towards their kish borders and there he may feel a little bit threatened by that so we feel that there are there is enough incentive to turkey to continue regardless of the american morning they might find some compromise with the americans because what roger theater on the the turkish president said today was that. there were promises in members that weren't kept so we're not going to stop now that opens the gates somehow or the door for further negotiation perhaps the carrot or evacuate kurdish militia from embedded. you know heed to some turkish demands and then the turks would stop so they're putting some pressure hoping hoping for some diplomatic gains from the americans there saying we're not going to stop it's your turn they're putting the ball in the american court see how that turns out you know what they're going to do for amer

did not fulfill its promises to the turkish government as you may remember the turkish administration did not want any kurdish presence on the west bank of the euphrates river but thanks to the united states patronage the kurds continued their existence on the west bank of the river but now first of all the turks are trying to. frame to separate the things now they are concentrating on a free and they are also similar to their peace operation in one thousand nine hundred ninety four in cyprus they again named their operation as a peace. metaphoric name for the peace which is the all the range operation they are claiming that the operator would bring peace to the region. what extent do you think this is all been triggered by the us announcing the creation of this border security force a lot of experts have said that this was the catalyst russia's more general and said they blame the responsible u.s. policy in the region what's your opinion. what let me tell you this way well when i'm looking at the syrian map i do see some different players right so p y d a y p g's the natural ally of

will go group a former turkish ambassador to the u.s. who believes the situation has acted as a trigger for turkey. i don't think they're us really into fear but the us is responsible that is the reason why turkey felt compelled to intervene and to start this opposition in the first place because. the u.s. even though they backtracked. to the initial announcement and the day said they want first published an army of course power about force. in all countries of the world there is only one plug and one army so but the u.s. says i'm going to create another force to. control and secure syria's border with turkey what does this mean that turkey is not on an enemy or syria turkey is not on and then we have to us turkey is a member of nato so it didn't make sense and i think turkey was quite correct in percy having this step as a direct threat to its national security in light of recent events the u.s. state department issued a rather measured statement the department spokesperson said turkey should ensure its military operations were limited

we're hearing from the turkish defense minister that a de facto turkish military operation has begun across its border now this is been corroborated by the syrian kurds the white jeep who say that since those day night some seventy shells have been fired by the turkish military on to their villages now it's one of the only a statement by the turkish president and the one in which he said that the united states has admitted to establishing a terrorist army on the turkish syrian border any chord on the united states to deal with that terror at its infrastructure and these comments by the turkish president so infuriated could see living in the afan region that earlier they took to the streets also they were protesting against what you see happening slowly on the ground which is turkish tanks leading to little buddha this is what citizens of us have to say. right now our freedom will be the ones graveyard today hundreds of thousands are protesting to tell him that the people of our friend will never leave their land. the international community should send a message to turkey telling the

the turkish u.s. relations are in trouble due to so many reasons that i want just to enumerate a few of them. different views on syria, syrian kurds, the zurich trial, the arrest of americans and the halt of visa services in turkey just to name a few. now let me come to the turkish-german relations. they are deeply in trouble as well. since the violation of basic rights, the jailing of germans, german citizens, journalists in turkey, the med lipping of turkish officials in the german election campaign, "the refusal to german lawmakers to visit german troops on the nato base and the linked relocation of the units outside nato territory to jordan. this is unprecedented but it happened. ladies, we have a lot to discuss. i'm looking forward to that, your input and active participation. i would like to thank middle eastern institute and mei and the friedrich foundation for making it possible. let me introduce the panel, from johns hopkins, well informed specialist. doctor, the floor is yours. >> thank you

the turkish army fires mortars terms of the syrian a conclave of the offering making way for its troops to cross into the area it's part of the congress controversial operation against syrian kurds we'll get the latest from our correspondent in turkey. balance today the country center left social democrat party is due to hold a key vote on whether to enter coalition talks with merkel's conservatives social democrat leader martin schultz is in its favor of forming a coalition but he faces strong resistance from within his own party a no vote could lead to a minority government which merkel has already said she won't lead or to fresh elections. i'm joined now by our correspondent thomas sparrow at the s.p.d. congress and vaughan thomas thanks for joining us the congress is now underway and martin short is just spoken to the delegates why did he promised members to win them around. martin shows specifically mentioned two areas in his speech which finished a few minutes ago here in bonn one he stressed what the party had achieved in the exploratory talks with the conservatives on social jus

are we is it being discussed in turkey that we could have turkish and u.s. forces standing you know face to face. well of course this is a huge topic here that you have to know there are no american soldiers inside the efren area so we will not see turkish an american soldiers actually fighting each other directly but yes this is highly highlighting the complexity of the situation you have a nato ally turkey actually bombing kurdish forces that the u.s. considers its most important ally in their fight against the so-called islamic state group so you see this is a very messy situation ofter all and of course at this is a very huge topic and it's going to further complicate relations between the two nato partners turkey and the u.s. and also comes down to the fact that turkey and the united states have very different attitudes and opinions about kurdish groups we know the turkish president . has failed to flush out what he describes as terrorists from the kurdish enclave in northern syria why do kurdish groups why do they pose such a threat to turkey well to k

potentially put the turkish army in direct conflict with the forces belonging to a major turkish nato ally namely the united states washington is known to have some two thousand special forces on the ground in syria and while none of them or thought to be in the affluent area they are deployed amongst various kurdish enclave set includes the town of man bridge now man bridge is controlled by u.s. backed kurdish syrian fighters at the same time we are hearing from the turkish president that more than two hundred and fifty syrian kurds as well as islamic state fighters have been killed. by the turkish army and allied forces in the past few days these figures are being disputed by the kurdish side who is also accusing and career of civilian casualties this despite the fact that we are hearing from two key that they are trying to avoid civilian deaths as far as possible now the american president donald trump has called for and is urging a deescalation and a limit in the military operation that and creator is conducting in northern syria it is now the sixth day since the turkish military

that the turkish military is being supported by turkish ally and syrian opposition rebel fighters and according to reports receiving on the ground there has been a convoy of buses moving to the area it is understood that the rebel fighters are on those buses and also trucks with machine guns now turkish media is reporting that the operation has officially started and been declared as you mentioned operation olive branch we also understand that there are at least eight it's sixteen aircraft that are involved in this military operation that is currently under way now all of this comes as the army says that it is involved in a legitimate what it calls self defense operation that it is responding to fire that it was on the receiving end that was coming from the ass and region in northern syria which is controlled by the kurdish rebels known as the white g those all could syrian rebels now they are aligned with the p.k. k. that turkey considers a terrorist organization so as such the turkish government considers by extension the y p g terrorists as well now we have seen some of the strikes

the turkish government. into account but first of all the operation in africa should be finished and should be completed i do not expect at the moment that turkey is undertaking operation directions which. just weeks to go until the winter olympics in south korea more russian athletes are now expecting their dreams of competing to be dashed international olympic committee has sent a list of eligible participants to russia and it excludes many athletes who have never failed a doping test. tensions in the sports world are hitting another high as the i.o.c. has confirmed that the number of russian athletes that are eligible to compete in the upcoming winter olympics is to be reduced now unexpectedly and without explanation now the full list of who is eligible has not yet been released but the russian olympic committee has disclosed a number of names that are thought to be who will be disqualified and that decision is ruffling feathers not only in russia but abroad as well a french sports outlet has published a

turkish politicians agree as well and it's not just the ruling a.k. party that supports the offensive in syria opposition leader kamal kill extols says he also backs the operation as does meryl action are the head of the new party that wants to challenge president dredge of tired aragon in the next election she tweeted that she's praying for a glorious army the only party to condemn the offensive is the pro kurdish h d p g . a former spokes person calls it inacceptable. the olive branch has always been a symbol of peace but now it is stained with blood it's also the one is extending the olive branch to bashar al assad in syria who once used to be his allies said it was upmarket this operation is an attempt to massacre the kurds opus we hope that statements like this one by jimmy are dangerous right now in the past days the turkish government has detained dozens of people including politicians activists and journalists for criticizing the military operation in syria the official charged terrorist propaganda. the journalist who knows servile colleagues

controls the afrin area in northern syria the turkish government considers the wikipedia as having an alliance with the p k k who they say. we are a terrorist organization since last week we have been hearing with threatening that it's going to launch this operation in the african area particularly after the united states issued a statement saying that it was going to train as well as implement a border protection force that would see the syrian democratic forces involved now the u.s. that is if is aligned with the white p.g.d. that the turks are against you understand why took you so angry over this whole issue but of course you also have the kurds in the african area he have taken to the streets in anger and frustration as well they have denounced the statements made by the turkish president and those sentiments were echoed in front of the two cliche embassy in london where around one hundred fifty people gathered they were holding placards and they were chanting that the turkish government is a terrorist government that has links to islamic state on that whole issue of whether or n

or the turkish government but after all we don't we shouldn't be forgetting actually that. the president. and when we talk about him i mean he's he's clearly the president of the turkish republic and he was elected actually to take care of the interest of the of the turkish republic of the interests of his own country not the interests of the syrian people so we have been seeing this shift and changes in turkish foreign policy towards the syrian conflict from from the first to the from the early stages of this conflict in which he was actually calling for president bashar assad to step down and until then there are stages in which he actually started to become their hopes more interested actually in containing the core dish issue in the north of syria let's move on what do you think u.n. special envoy if there is that hundred missed or is doing in sochi what's his. well i think he's trying to capitalize on this meeting in sochi because the installer believes that if he can actually channel that that the outcome of the sochi conference because after all he believes that russ

the turkish government. under the constitution into account but first of all the operation in africa should be finished and should be completed i do not expect at the moment that turkey is undertaking operation direction command which. just weeks to go until the winter olympics in south korea more russian athletes are now expecting their dreams of competing to be dashed the international olympic committee has sent a list of eligible participants to russia and it excludes many athletes who have never failed a doping test. tensions in the sports world are hitting another high as the i.o.c. has confirmed that the number of russian athletes that are eligible to compete in the upcoming winter olympics is to be reduced now unexpectedly and without explanation now the full list of who is eligible has not yet been released but the russian olympic committee has disclosed a number of names that are thought to be who will be disqualified and that decision is ruffling feathers not only in russia but abroad as well a fre

states the turkish nation state historic. this like towards kurdish aspirations in the region and as this relationship develops between the kurds and the u.s. and as this moves on from a nearly military relationship to a more diplomatic and political one which may well turn into a strategic strategic relationship that turkey states reactions going to be more aggressive and i think that's what this whole rhetoric is mostly about yes i understand the international conjuncture and how the international relations are playing a huge part in this problem right now and i agree with joshua that and met him actually as well but this is going to be between moscow and d.c. but i think that there is a current that has to be highlighted here the turkish states historically actions towards any sort of kurdish aspirations in terms of both autonomy or independence it's a severe aggression and this displeases that turkey the turkish state and i mean we saw this in iraq you kurdistan to the reflexes of the turkish state in iraq to kurdistan wi

is terry located on the turkish side of the border there's been no reports of turkish forces actually crossing into this syrian kurdish enclave as we speak this comes as turkey continues to build up its real form of reinforcement along the frontier of this enclave and as the turkish defense minister neurontin chronically was saying he confirms that the operation will be carried out and he didn't dictate the operation will not only be confined to this one syrian enclave but all of the syrian kurdish forces on long turkey's sovereign borders so it does appear turkey is not only ratcheting up its military escalation but also the rhetoric accompanying it back to the target of this shelling and mortar fire is a group called the y p g tell us more about this group and why does turkey see this group as such a threat. well according to the y. p. g. is linked to a kurdish rebel group known as the p.k. k. which has been fighting a decades long insurgency inside turkey causing thousands of casualties turkey considers the p.k. k. as does most of the international community a terrorist organizatio

well matt this weekend the turkish army opened a new front in the syrian war a war that has been going on for seven years nearly seven years now making an already complex situation even more complex and yes the turkish military has confirmed the ground offensive started so turkish soldiers are going into our friend joined by fighters of the so-called f.s.a. the free syrian army that's and back to rebel group and the language coming from the turks is that this is only going to be the start they are then going to move into another town called monday some one hundred kilometers further north so this is the earth or a prison aaron just announced that he assumes the operation is going to be over soon we are hearing from turkish media that turkey is going is aiming at establishing a thirty kilometer so-called safe zone but this is only the wording is using you have to understand there are a couple of thousands of kurdish fighters in and around but a couple of hundreds of thousands of civilians including displaced families from other war ravaged areas in syria so for them the next days are pr

turkish government. undertake these concerns into account but first of all the operation in africa should be finished and should be completed otherwise it will take another decision to go to man beach i do not expect at the moment that turkey is undertaking operation direction which well it's interesting you say about the telephone call between the two countries' leaders because previously be u.s. government has been very adamant in warning president erdogan against further escalation in syria and indeed any actions that could lead to confrontation with the u.s. do you think that president is taking that warning seriously. i think it's going to take this very seriously. because tonight's telephone conversation is not very friendly the atmosphere is not so friendly both sides put their positions once again and it depends how the turkish president will act you can of course decide that the operation is extended. probably the americans would somehow conference with the turkish forces done we have a problem

turkish forces firing on come easily and other towns along the syrian turkish border officials say their aim is to divert attention from the main campaign their advance on the kurdish enclave of our free it's the fourth day of a push by turkish forces and their syrian rebel allies to clear the northwestern border enclave of kurdish why p.g. fighters banker reckon sit is the y.p. g.d.b. allies of kurdish insurgents who for decades have force against the turkish state within its own borders and turkey wants to prevent kurds from gaining their own independent territory but ankara has promised an unrelenting campaign. but there are good and. we're turning all the terrorist elements will be cleansed from this region. and our brothers came to our country from syria to save their lives but not been able to return there and continue their lives. high out in order. had net positive. regardless of the price. we will tear down the terra cotta door that they are trying to establish in the region. and the tax broncho has boomed back its ground troops from the region washington times the kiddish y p g

we're hearing from the turkish defense minister that a de facto turkish military operation has begun across its border now this is been corroborated by the syrian kurds the white people who say that since those day night some seventy shells have been fired by the turkish military on to their villages now it's one of the only a statement by the turkish president and the one in which he said that the united states has admitted to establishing a terrorist army on the turkish syrian border any chord on the united states to deal with that terror at its infrastructure and these comments by the turkish president so infuriated could see living in the afan region that earlier they took to the streets also they were protesting against what you see happening slowly on the ground which is turkish tanks needing to literally this is what citizens of africa have to say. right now our freedom will be the ones graveyard today hundreds of thousands are protesting to tell him that the people of our friend will never leave their land. the international community should send a message to turkey telling t

certainly are you have to realize that it was moscow that allowed this turkish operation to start in the first place they control syrian air space it appears that they are what they do are allowing turkish forces now to use airspace with impunity for now at least i think moscow is very happy to sit back and watch this deepening crisis between two key partners it's always been a long term goal of moscow to drive turkey away from later to drag its. influence this least for now appears to be succeeding and moscow will be very happy to sit on the sidelines and watch it all on fault although moscow will have the back of their minds be worried about turkey's growing influence in syria with that comes the prospect of turkey clashing with damascus which moscow is backing so it's a difficult game moscow's play but at the moment i think they're very content with the situation right daryn jones in istanbul thank you very much for that this article look at some other stories making news around the world at least three people have been killed and more than one hundred injured ten of them seriousl

turkish and y.p. g. forces cast again on saturday as i'm pushes ahead with a military operation aimed at clearing the kurdish militia from the turkish border area. kurdish and other activists say saturday's fighting concentrated in the northwest of the african region and this video kurdish fighters target turkish other cultures with small arms fire activists say turkey is making slow progress on the ground. president richard sipe rather one rather just supporters just over a week into the campaign he claims turkey has inflicted heavy casualties on its enemies. three hundred ninety four terrorists have been neutralized. and we have twenty martyrs from the free syrian army and our military. the figures are disputed and cannot be verified independently turkey took journalists close to the front line in syria on saturday here protest this militia watch over territory they've controlled for the past two years overlooked by white p.g. positions on a nearby hill. the shots of the re continues to show why p.g. f

the turkish government. into account but first of all the operation in african should be finished and should be completed i do not expect at the moment that turkey is undertaking operation direction which. with just weeks to go until the winter olympic games in south korea more russian athletes are now expecting their dreams of competing to be dashed the international olympic committee has sent a list of eligible participants to russia and among those missing are athletes who have never failed the doping test in their entire career. tensions in the sports world are hitting another high as the i.o.c. has confirmed that the number of russian athletes that are eligible to compete in the upcoming winter olympics is to be reduced now unexpectedly and without explanation now the full list of who is eligible has not yet been released but the russian olympic committee has disclosed a number of names that are thought to be who will be disqualified and that decision is ruffling feathers not only in russia but abroad a

we're hearing from the turkish defense minister that a de facto turkish military operation has begun across its border now this is been corroborated by the syrian kurds the white p.g.d. who say that since those day night some seventy shells have been fired by the turkish military on to their villages now it's one of the only a statement by the turkish president and the one in which he said that the united states has admitted to establishing a terrorist army on the turkish syrian border any chord on the united states to deal with that terror at its infrastructure and these comments by the turkish president so infuriated could see living in the afan region that earlier they took to the streets also they were protesting against what we see happening slowly on the ground which is turkish tanks leading to little buddha this is what citizens of us have to say. right now our freedom will be the ones graveyard today hundreds of thousands are protesting to tell him that the people of our friend will never leave their land. and the international community should send a message to turkey tellin

this on the second day of a turkish ground offensive into syria to oust u.s. allied kurdish militia from the area their operation was met with a hail of rockets on turkish towns killing at least one refugee the turkish offensive on is code named operation all of branch it began on saturday and has heightened tensions in the already complicated syrian conflict united states has urged turkey to exercise restraint. turkish border times of paying the price and president safe in neighboring syria at least one person has been killed and dozens injured by rockets fired from the kurdish enclave. despite the danger many people here remain enthusiastic about turkey's military offensive on the kurds. live on these boys as they. are. saving turkey from ca to insurgents the ground invasion follows asterix and shelling against kurdish militia targets the turkish on me has reported some initial gains that is disputed by the kurdish fighters president reza have added one says the operation will soon be concluded he's also warned that any opposition to the attack will not be t

thinking that i suggest that armed confrontation in the north of syria between turkish military or turkish military backed free syrian army forces and wipe each of forces is imminent at the scale of these armed confrontation is however is not debt or mind by ankara neither on current nor why p.j. but is going to be decided on the on two capitals first one is must go the second one is d.c. and the ones are the ones concerns about why p.g.d. justified is it as much of a threat to turkey as a consensus it to be i have to say that. to an eighteen year two thousand and eighteen is going to be a high probability is going to benediction years of course. i mean the strategic rationale behind the his inflammatory rhetoric first one is surely it's recolors of the most people to call consumption but the second. point is also relevant i think turkey or anchor has been feel. linking a grave threat by being encircled by the terror belt or p k k belt stretching from the north of. not then iraq starting from country in the region connecting syria to iraq we dosser to countenance in the west i mean in the

well if you follow turkish t.v. news channels you would assume any moment now they are reporting from the syrian border every top of the hour showing pictures of the deployment of troops and tanks and we're also getting reports of turkish artillery shelling the area from just outside afrin yesterday the national security council that's turkey's top security body said and i quote it will take any necessary steps immediately to defeat the threat without mentioning any specific date though at the same time we are hearing that turkish officials in talks with representatives from russia from nato and the u.s. there seem to be out for it's to come up with some kind of last minute diplomatic solution here especially since u.s. secretary of state to listen now denied any plans of building a turkey syria border security force which would mainly consist of kurdish fighters as you mentioned and this was the reason why uncorrupt was calling for military action in the first place talked with us a little bit more about relationsh