were slaughtered by the alderman empire today's turkey this week the u.s. house of representatives overwhelmingly voted to give it a name genocide and now the u.s. and turkey both nato members well they seem more like enemies than allies who in the world would a well something like that to happen the answer for both countries begins with mr president i'm bring gulf in berlin this is the day. it is always the right time to recognize genocide but it is particularly so today. this step is no. we simply don't accept it we can say that the ottoman empire committed this grotesque crime against the armenians. we consider such an accusation to be the biggest insult people how can we truly say

the crimes of a century ago or in the past. we cannot tidy little country he's history's full of the stain of genocide i'm slavery has no right to say anything not to lecture attacking that's better mohawk good luck. also coming up climate change and a teenage activist named greg bag the swedish young woman is known all over the world but the chinese have their own version tonight meet china's gretta. the climate crisis is the biggest crisis ever for the existence of mankind. everybody should do you think everything they can to prevent it. and to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a disagreement over how to label the past made possible by men in the present who.

could threaten security and peace in the future 100 years ago in what is now turkey the ultimate empire committed what many historians say was the 1st genocide of the 20th century to this day turkey says there was no genocide up until yesterday the united states had said nothing the u.s. congress ended its silence on tuesday the house of representatives approved sanctions against turkey and also recognized the armenian genocide the turkish president today condemned the u.s. saying america's history of slavery disqualifies it from judging another nation's past already did it a country he's history is full of the stain of genocide and slavery has no right to say anything nor telex it tacky that a mohawk good on him but for washington lawmakers this is more about the president and the presidents president trump and president everyone spoke on the phone 3

weeks ago and that conversation triggered a geo political earthquake trump withdrew u.s. forces from northern syria and cleared the way for the turks to invade northern syria to push back kurdish forces which turkey regards as terrorists these are actions that the u.s. congress has loudly condemned with words and now with actions it is always the right time to recognize genocide but it is particularly so today for when we see the images of terrified kurdish families in northern syria loading their possessions into cars or carts and fleeing their homes headed to nowhere except away from turkish bombs and marauding militias how can we truly say the crimes of a century ago are in the past we cannot we cannot pick and choose which crimes against humanity are convenient to speak about we cannot cloak our support of human rights in euphemisms we cannot be cowed into silence by a foreign power. but what we can do what we must do mr speaker is

state the facts we can say that the ottoman empire committed this grotesque crime against the armenians. was adam schiff there speaking in the u.s. house of representatives to talk about this decision to put it in context tonight i'm joined from istanbul by my god he's the former deputy chair of human rights for the party in istanbul in turkey one it's good to see you again i want to if you know that i want to talk necessarily about the term american term armenian genocide instead i'd like to ask you why do you think the u.s. house of representatives took that decision today do you think it was a decision made out of conviction or was it congress rebuking presidents trump and air to one. firstly let me just say that no

country has right to impose their own version of a story on another country and especially when it when the when there are no historians. when there are no researchers spoken about this but politicians it is very clear that this is a public site this isn't it has nothing to do with the facts and it has nothing to do with the story and really does a something we have been very very open from the beginning we have opened our archive which includes over 1000000 documents related to this part of history and we have been saying the same thing to our contra parts around the world including armenian government but we haven't seen that we cannot make such decisions politically especially when there are no evidence we cannot we cannot create. we cannot create money fractured genocide accusations when there are actually real

genocide they did the escape from acknowledging the example friend genocide in algeria and they committed the genocide killing one inhofe median what people in argentina or when got an american genocide of indian americans maher live let me at me just ask you this then do you understand the u.s. lawmakers just may with president air to watch i mean there are people who are saying that this decision was motivated big by washington's dismay with your president do you understand that look it is very clear that all of these decisions are not based on the facts that the historians and maybe i call the just or researchers can actually show us but these are the decisions for making cheap political scores this is not only in the states we have just seen it we have seen

it before in france last year in germany in italy and other parliaments the parliaments are not the places to make decisions when there's something happened in the history or not. i want to ask you about what president at the one said as the day after the military operation in northern syria began there was criticism from european union countries of everyone's policies and he responded by threatening to a while syrian refugees to go to europe he was threatening to weaponize human beings i mean is that what friends do is that what nato allies is that how they treat each other 1st of all i kept the language of if you hand picked sentence that's from speech of the president that one out of context you can make up and in meaning you want what he was we did trying to say is

that all countries should take responsibility especially when you just like say that we are in need to a country under attack from a terrorist organization in our border what's what we should have been seeing that all native countries come together to make sure our borders which are at the same time need to border the same but we haven't seen that 100 that lover is right why let me ask you this why didn't the president airline there is article 5 of the nato charter he could have invoked article 5 and asked the other nato members to come and defend turkey but he did not do that. you know we did it we have been asking is for a long time this is was there was actually some period of time where patches by need to were deployed in our border and later on they were taken we we haven't we haven't been in this war against terror just yesterday just like you know for a long time we've been under attack of terrorists became get and at the same time terrorists isis and there is

a brutal regime on our next door and there are millions of people that escaping from his or jeep it was president who is trying to bring all the countries together to make a decision and especially countries in nato should take more responsibility. let me ask you here before we run out of time the turkish forces are now patrolling the border area with the northern syria together with russian troops. nato you know your country turkey is a nato member and now your joint patrolling with russian troops what situation is your country in now. well these are nato we are representing the nato operation and in our fight against terror in our border and president had won several times in white that president mock on president cal jansen and yet i'm a cat and president putin and actually the 1st time they came together all in

istanbul to create a solution and let's not forget 30 of the only country on the table that is in genoa and sochi we try to bring a solution a peaceful solution to the situation in syria because millions of people scaping from terrorist organizations so just be cake in isis and in the same time from the brutal regime our rights haroon armagh on a member of the turkish president at a once a cave party joining us tonight mr horan is good to see you again we appreciate your time thank you. already want to take this story now to washington d.c. i'm joined now by the armenian national committee of america executive director i'm party on i hope i got your name right there mr hardee on it's good to have you on the show i'll ask you the same thing i asked her room there from the a k party in turkey this decision that was made today by the house or yesterday by

the house of representatives do you think that was a decision made out of conviction that this was truly genocide or do you think lawmakers were trying to use this to rebuke president trump and president aired of one. for many years turkey exercise a veto here in washington d.c. preventing members of congress from voting their conscience on the armenian genocide members of congress essentially overrode that veto and let members vote up or down and 405 of them voted yes only 11 voted no and that's basically what happened the patient's right out with turkey to say that we're not going to force your gag rule here in washington and we're going to let legislators vote their conscience. the thing is this right in turkey it's illegal to talk about the armenian genocide and that's it's a terrible law but that's turkey's law they have no right to export that here to washington and especially america has told opera we're not going to outsource our

policy to you we're going to have our own policy which is a healthy thing where you say that the patient has run out but you know i know that this is the lobby by armenians in the united states is that this is been going on for at least 2 decades and now all of a sudden we're getting this decision. are you telling me that what we've seen in northern syria with the kurds and with the turks with the syrians and russians are you telling me none of that came into play in the calculus for this decision to recognize the armenian genocide. no of course it did but in a way i think it's a little different than the premise of your question with turkey poised to commit new atrocities against our kurdish allies against at risk christians and as it is in northern syria it's all the more important to communicate to turkey to communicate to edit on in the language he frankly understands that the united states will no longer whitewash his crimes will no longer forgive and cover up his

sense and that's that's a healthy message to send that in fact anti atrocities message that right now. do you consider the u.s. congress to be your strongest supporter in the american political system stronger than the u.s. president you have to admit that the speaker of the house nancy pelosi for example she has said that mr trump's policies with turkey and with syria have been a disaster among the foot the question a little bit and say that the part of the u.s. government that is most subject to foreign pressure to foreign vetoes is the executive branch and the congress is less susceptible to the kind of pressures they read greater freedom to speak honestly but this is something very interesting here which is that when the wall street journal asked. asked the state department where do you stand on this resolution they said we don't typically responder or comment on such resolutions it's not true they have attacked similar resolutions for 50

years this state department under this president chose not to attack the resolution and we saw the result 405 yes votes and only 11 no votes yeah i mean it was an overwhelming result that what we'll do is vote mean what will that change for you know the people you represent armenians for example in the united states what will change because of what happened this week in washington. i think that there is a great personal meaning for armenians and our adopted home the united states to feel as though our our policy on this issue was set here in washington by americans not exported to america by the turkish government so i think there's a sense of we've helped move america to a more american policy away from an opera imposed policy that's a lot of meaning for us as armenians but also arming itself to the extent that we can get and. america's complicity in ferguson isles and ultimately turkey's denials

ultimately turkey's denials we're going to see arming itself be safer because the army cannot be safe they bordered by an unrepentant over armed robber traitor of the nile a perpetrator of genocide rather seizing right mr beyond the immediate national committee of america mr pearl and we appreciate your time and your insights tonight thank you very much thank you. thank you. all the united states is not the only nato member concerned about turkey you may remember germany along with france and the u.k. restricted weapons sales to turkey when the military offensive against the kurds began but germany and turkey have walked nato horns before in 2017 turkey banned german lawmakers from visiting german servicemen and women stationed at injure like air base and that is just the beginning but it helps to explain why most germans

now say that turkey should no longer be a member of nato that's right a majority of germans surveyed 58 percent say that turkey should be kicked out of nato there's even stronger german support for economic sanctions and export bans against the country now this poll was commissioned by the german news agency d.p.a. and it was carried out by the pollsters that you go the poll was also conducted in the wake of turkey's invasion of northern syria to create a 30 kilometer buffer zone between turkey and the syrian kurd y p g militia which turkey considers to be terrorists but the turkish president's threats they have soured the mood here in germany to this is what heir to one said he would do with syrian refugees in turkey if the european union doesn't stop criticizing turkey's foreign policy. the end of the e.u.

will come because of this lack of sincerity and he proceeded to state to the fish does not seem well but it's the number x. 8 it's not happening unexpectedly either you set us up for that reason or those who speak hypocritically have no value in our ice. cream if you are. couple of they panic when i say we'll open the gates don't panic when the time comes these gates really will open up a lot of our children. are in for more now i want to take it to be used teri schultz in brussels terry has covered needed for many years terry it's good to see you before we talk about neda i just want to get your take on the u.s. house recognizing the armenian genocide do you think that's going to have any reverberations. within nato. i'm not

sure brant nato has just wrapped up a defense minister ariel where the syrian incursion dominated the agenda and we'll have foreign ministers here later in november so by then things may have died down a bit and and it's not true that every bilateral dispute makes it into nato and becomes a wider conflict inside the alliance that said relations between the u.s. and turkey the alliances 2 largest militaries are certainly not on a good track right now and this may well exacerbate exacerbate discussions about other issues as it often does talk to me about where turkey is in nato at the moment you know i just spoke just spoke with someone from president erda one's a key party you know and i asked him was this decision. do you recognize the armenian genocide was it you know an effort to rebuke mr ever won a nato ally i mean is is turkey in the doghouse with nato at the moment.

the thing about nato is that it operates on consensus and nothing can be done if one ally is opposed to any measure so there's never a question that nato as a whole could move against one of its members because that simply can't happen when you need unanimity and if you'll recall a president trump walked back his displeasure with turkey and with president air to one in this phone call where he announced that everything had been worked out and there was going to be a permanent cease fire in northern syria and that very much curbs the criticism that his defense secretary marc esper had when he came here to brussels he'd been very very angry with turkey and calling for investigation of possible war crimes and and sanctions against turkey and by the time he got to brussels after this phone call between presidents trump an heir to one he wasn't saying those things in

such a strident manner anymore so there's a difference on capitol hill and in the white house and as you saw this was the house of representatives taking strong action against turkey we don't even know if that will make it through the senate the sanctions bill yet you know there's always a different a different sentiment there so i think you have to look on different sides of town in washington just like you do in brussels when you look at the difference between the way the european union reacts and the way nato reacts. as as as was mentioned earlier the european union took a much stronger stance against the incursion with this partial arms embargo the nato where any criticism was very muted. but we got about 30 seconds of this you go poll that says that most germans would like to see turkey. there actually there's not a mechanism in the nato charter is there for kicking a member. there's not there isn't any way to kick

a member out and no member has ever asked to leave unlike the brits with the european union and certainly turkey is threatened some times with this relations with russia for example or even with iran to sort of head across the fence but everyone knows that turkey feels safer inside nato and even that nato feel safer with turkey as an ally rather than outside it so i don't think there's any question of turkey either being pushed out of nato or taking that step a self it's good to know that they can't translate brags to a turkey or something like that teri schultz on the story for us tonight in brussels terry as always thank you we appreciate your insights. climate change in china how the country decides to tackle its environmental problems will determine the direction of the global climate crisis corresponded much he has berlinger with one student there understands the urgency very well.

whenever she can how we owed visits to flower market in her home city of we need with a pocket money she buys trees seedlings planted in the surrounding area. it's her contribution to the world wide writings to future protest how we joined the movement 4 months ago china's 1st climates trying. to look through planting trees is something that's easy to do and something that's possible to promote in china well to all inspired by young people around the world how you started demonstrating in front of the no 2 government offices she was soon as quoted away by the police warned her of serious trouble if she continued. overcall how do you to keep killing but i've taken a lot of courage so i'm hesitant about that i don't consider myself especially

brave. turning a back on activism was also out of the question now several times a week she's out planting trees and posting about her divinities on social media groups to convince more young chinese to join the movement. university student danis with her today for the 2nd time the chinese government has made improving the environment one of its key goals but it keeps a tight lid on discussion how we became concerned about the environment after reading an article about plastic waste in the ocean. offering help until i started really worrying that such a big problem wasn't getting enough attention and nobody would take action. i was terrified every time i thought about it sometimes every 10 minutes i couldn't concentrate on anything anymore radiations all those associated china's rapid

development has taken a huge toll on the environment the country is now the world's biggest emitter of greenhouse gases air quality is one of people's talk on cern's eco activism is rare in china's repressive political system. the 16 year old student has now been striking for 4 months the parents are worried about her future but she has no intention to give in to their pleas to stop skipping classes you are still with you the climate crisis is the biggest crisis ever for the existence of mankind. everybody should do everything they can to prevent it the real boeing i don't know what. how he has asked the relative to letter plant the trees on his property in china's densely populated countryside it is not easy to find and cultivated land the

elderly farmer says he understands and supports the young activists. they used to start getting cold in september but now it summer's a lot toba november look at how warm it still is. for them. how he says he has planted 200 trees in the past 6 weeks but even more important to those to raise awareness among china's youth. today it's the farmer's son she explains what climate change is and he can join with young people around the world to stop it. all right the day is almost done we'll see you tomorrow about.

the movies. kidnapped from the streets taken to secret prisons without leaving a trace. tortured the law into a this is the fate of many opponents of the government among those detained is mustafa nuance his wife has been trying for months to find him on she is fighting for his release her son but he's still my. next d.w. . as these every goal is to get the right should

suck a means in column a. many people in afghanistan think it's wrong for women to do sports and try to stuff a. 6. block must demand continues to coach augusta the for not deter them by the for the 5 minutes on v.w. . polo. do you france do you run tony of tears to see if. my 3 grandchildren sleep on troubles when i was in france is a chance for germany was split into 2 and remain divided for decades when your mother was born in 1969 the old ones already 8 years old. my grandchildren were

born after the war for born. 3 generations only on a journey through recent history. starts to labor 60 d.w. . hello and welcome to focus on europe lola thanks for joining us turkey's a military offensive in syria has shown just how resolute the president heir to want is attacking his opponents and he is also cracking down on opposition members in his own country recently turkish security forces clashed with purchase demonstrators.