karin kneissl, the former austrian foreign minister who famously danced with putin at her own wedding in 2018. now, she lives in exile, forced out of austria, she says, by death threats. what does her story say about vienna s close ties to moscow and the impact of austria s neutrality? karin kneissl, in northern lebanon, welcome to hardtalk. thank you very much for your invitation, mr sackur. well, it s a pleasure to have you on the show. i think we have to start with this question about your location. you were a senior member of the austrian diplomatic political elite, until recently. now, you ve left your home country and you re in exile in lebanon. just explain to me why. well, when our government literally imploded in 2019, all i wanted was to continue my academic work and publishing, but i had to find out that there was not a single contract. furthermore, a lot of harassment, also the death threats. but the bigger problem, honestly, was this de facto prohibition to work,
we start this hour with breaking news. reports are coming in of a strong earthquake that has hit turkey near the border with syria. the epicentre was in gaziantep and the tremor has been felt across the region. the united states geological survey said it was of 7.8 magnitude and at a depth of 10 kilometres, considered to be shallow. gaziantep has a local population of around two million people and is also hosting almost 500,000 syrian refugees. azadeh moshiri is our reporter. what can you tell us? this is what we know so far. the quaker s epicentre was in gaziantep, the southern part of turkey with a population of 2 million people. it is an industrial hub is lots of buildings chair. it s on the border of syria, so that s why it hosts about half a million syrian refugees will stop so it is an industrial hub, hosting many refugees, and the epicentre of this earthquake right now. when you look at the buildings, it is clear in the area that the damage is fairly significant. we ha
office, he was met by israel s new prime minister. mr biden will also meet the palestinian president. that s it for me for now, i will be back later in the evening. now on bbc news, hardtalk with stephen sackur. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year af
home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes, we live in a safe environment in kurdistan, in erbil and duhok, but still, challenges, it s everywhere and especially when it comes to the whole region as middle east, christians have lost trust. it s notjust about iraq. speaking about syria, lebanon and the number of the christians declining. so everyone is thinking how to get out safely, while as church leaders
welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. 25 years ago, almost 1.5 million christians lived in iraq. now there are around a quarter of a million. and after years of war and sectarian violence, many of them have been displaced from their ancestral homes. can anything be done to reverse this trend toward extinction? well, my guest is archbishop bashar warda of erbil, home to the largest remaining christian community in a country, a region where christianity has deep roots. does it have a future? archbishop bashar warda, welcome to hardtalk. thank you. welcome, thank you. it s a pleasure to have you here, but i have to ask you, archbishop, how demoralising is it for you as the chaldean archbishop of erbil to see your christian community getting smaller and smaller year after year? yeah, i would say it s dangerously low in number. challenging, because i ll be honest with you, there is no one reason for our family to stay. i cannot convince them unless we do something for them. yes