As the UAE’s F-35 dream is coming closer to becoming a reality, experts speculate that Abu Dhabi could sell some of its older F-16 jets to Greece which is entangled in a bitter conflict with Turkey.

The two countries have already seen increased defence cooperation in recent months when UAE dispatched four of its F-16s to Greece to undertake joint exercises with the Hellenic Air Force. Turkey was so infuriated that it threatened to shoot down any UAE fighter jet if it attempted to violate its airspace.

However, the recent UAE-Israel peace agreement has changed the equations in the Middle East. Recently, it was reported that a formal deal with the United States might be signed by December 2020, to acquire an estimated 12 F-35s.

Currently, the Arab nation’s air force operates around 80 F-16s, and according to speculations, Abu Dhabi might be reconsidering the amount of jets it can effectively put to use after the arrival of F-35s.

While it has given no indication so far about its F-16s to be put on sale, it may not need 80 of them following the American deal.

The UAE’s F-16s are one of the most advanced in the world, the Block 60 variant, which is just one step before its most advanced successor, the Block-70/72 “Viper” jets. It already comes with conformal fuel tanks, an APG-80 AESA radar, an integrated electronic warfare system and secure communication systems. Athens has already allocated a budget of $1.5 billion to upgrade 84 of its F-16s to Block-70/72 Viper standard.

It should be remembered that the Greek government has already recently secured a deal with France for 18 Rafale jets, also facilitating its naval expansion by acquiring 4 frigates and 4 naval helicopters. Under the expansion programme, it would increase the size of its armed forces by 15,000 more troops over the next 5 years.

While Greece has already signed an agreement with France for its Rafales, another deal with the UAE for F-16s could question the credibility of the Turkish Air Force.

2014 protests in accused Turkish army of standing by as Islamic State besieged Kobani, just across the Syrian border

Turkish authorities on Friday ordered the arrest of 82 people including members of a pro-Kurdish opposition party, over 2014 violent protests against the siege by Islamic State of the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani.

Protesters flooded streets in Turkey’s mainly Kurdish southeast in early October 2014, accusing the Turkish army of standing by as Islamic State besieged Kobani, just across the Syrian border. The protests led to the deaths of 37 people.

Police say they have arrested one suspect, and found a blade and suspicious package near the scene. The attack coincides with the start of a trial for the alleged accomplices in a 2015 attack on the magazine’s offices.

Four people were wounded, two seriously, after a knife attack near the former offices of satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, French police said on Friday. Police cordoned off the area after a suspicious package was spotted. 

A Paris police official said that while authorities initially thought two attackers were involved, they now believe it was only one person, who was later arrested near the Bastille plaza in eastern Paris. 

A blade was found at the scene, two police sources told Reuters. One described it as a machete, and the other called it a meat cleaver. Local authorities have asked people to avoid the area. No explosives were found in the suspicious package near the scene, officials said. 

Following the attack, Prime Minister Jean Castex cut short a visit to a suburb north of Paris, and the city’s metro closed lines in the area. 

The motive for the attack is unclear, however, and it was not clear whether it can be linked to the trial. But after several high-profile attacks in the country recent years, DW’s Paris correspondent Lisa Louis said France was still on edge.

“I talked to a policeman, who told me they were not looking into big plots at the moment, but rather at lone wolves who might attack people in the streets,” she said.

“I was in my office. I heard screams in the road. I looked out of the window and saw a woman who was lying on the floor and
had taken a whack in the face from what was possibly a machete,” one witness told Europe 1 radio. “I saw a second neighbour on the floor and I went to help.”

Stabbing coincides with start of trial

This week, a trial got underway in Paris for the alleged accomplices in a January 2015 attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices, which left 12 people dead. Fourteen people, including three fugitives, are on trial, while the widows of the attackers are scheduled to testify on Friday afternoon. 

Earlier this month, Charlie Hebdo also announced that it would republish cartoons of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad to mark the beginning of the trial. 

The Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan’s central Kentron district resumed on Friday the hearing on measure of restraint for the opposition Prosperous Armenia Party (PAP) leader, lawmaker Gagik Tsarukyan. The investigators have petitioned to arrest Tsarukyan as part of the criminal investigation launched against him.

Gagik Tsarukyan attended the hearing and left the courtroom  moments ago.
At a question by a reporter whether he demands PM Pashinyan’s resignation, Tsarukyan said: “100 percent of the cabinet must resign.”

It is expected that
To note, the National Security Service (NSS) has charged Tsarukyan with vote buying, tax evasion and illegal land appropriation. Armenian MPs voted to strip the opposition figure of immunity from prosecution on June 16, moving to push through the criminal proceedings against him.

However, the Court of General Jurisdiction, presided over by judge Robert Papoyan, ruled against Tsarukyan’s arrest sought by the NSS on June 21, a decision appealed by prosecutors to a higher court. The defense lawyers also filed a number of appeals against that decision to the court.

The Court of Appeals overturned the lower court’s refusal to arrest the opposition MP on July 8, ordering new hearings on the motion to arrest him.

Tsarukyan denies any wrongdoing, dismissing the charges as politically motivated. The MP claims the accusations against him came after his harsh criticism of the Armenian government at the June 5 meeting of his party.

Azerbaijani special services are spreading a fake document over “evacuation of the residents of Artsakh” in social networks, the National Security Service of Artsakh said in a statement.

“The National Security Service of Artsakh, pursuing the fulfillment of its functions and powers granted by law in the field of information security, taking into account the public interest over the document on “evacuation of the Artsakh residents” released in social networks, in order to prevent the comments aimed at spreading disinformation in some cases, wants to inform that the Azerbaijani special services again are making active attempts to spread disinformation because the aforementioned document is fake.

This fact once again proves that the Azerbaijani side is trying to cause panic within the Armenian public through cheap measures.

We call on our citizens to refrain from spreading such information in social networks, avoid communicating with strangers on military topics and follow only the official news”, the statement says.

Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has signed decrees on relieving from duties the Deputy Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Grisha Tamrazyan and Georgy Avetisyan (pictured above), the Head of the Food Safety Inspection Agency.

By another decree, Higher Attestation Commission Chairman Smbat Gogyan will be relieved from duties effective September 25.

by Christopher Atamian

When Azerbaijan started bombing villages along the Tavush border in mid-July, many people in the Armenian diaspora and elsewhere mistakenly assumed that they were shelling a part of Artsakh. And looking out at any of the verdant valleys in Tavush, you’d be forgiven for thinking that you were actually in Switzerland or some lost corner of paradise. But Tavush is in fact part and parcel of the Republic of Armenia proper, making Azerbaijan’s actions all the more provocative as they shattered any illusion that Armenia is not in danger of getting embroiled in an all-out war again. Located in the country’s northeastern edge and bordered by Georgia to the North and Azerbaijan to the East, Tavush is an ancient Armenian province. Its scenic capital of Ijevan–once an important rest stop on international trade routes–sits at the foothills of the Gugark Mountains, on the shores of the Aghstev River.  The region measures just 2,704 km² (about one-fourth the size of Rhode Island) and on a good day has a population of just over 125,000 people.

Shelling from the other side of the border is nothing new to the farmers and other villagers who live in the region, some of whose families have been tilling the land from time immemorial. Two of its more isolated cities for example, Berd and Noyemberyan, regularly receive volleys of sniper shots from Azeri positions. As a result of this and other factors village men often leave to find work in Russia—predictably, many never return. Perhaps in desperation or out of a sense of duty, some have also signed up as contract soldiers and can be found at their military posts guarding the border—and this, for about $300 a month.  This puts additional stress on the village women, who must tend to all domestic duties alone, from tilling gardens to caring for their animals, children and extended families. As a result of these precarious situations, Armenians in the region are more likely to have smaller families, which poses a demographic threat and becomes a national security issue.

A senior member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee has sought to investigate ties between President Donald Trump and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan following reports that the close personal relationship between the two leaders is impacting policy decisions. 

In an open letter to U.S. National Security Adviser Robert O’Brien on Monday, Senator Bob Menendez cited audio recordings made by veteran journalist Bob Woodward for his book Rage, in which Trump said “I get along very well with Erdogan, even though you’re not supposed to because everyone says, ‘What a horrible guy.’ But, you know, for me it works out good.”

“While it may have worked out for the President personally, this relationship has not worked out well for the national security of the United States, the country he was elected to lead,” Menendez said, pointing to several areas of contention between the United States and Turkey. 

Turkey took delivery of the Russian-made S-400 missile defence system in July 2019 despite U.S. objections that the move threatened to jeopardise the operational security of the country’s American-produced fighter jets. Trump’s subsequent failure to impose sanctions had emboldened Turkey and undermined NATO, the senator said.

Menendez also referred to the reporting of journalist Carl Bernstein, who linked Trump’s decision to partially withdraw U.S. troops from Syria to several direct phone calls with Erdoğan. 

The U.S. withdrawal in December 2019 paved the way for a Turkish military operation against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) in northern Syria, before international outcry and domestic pressure saw Trump reverse the decision and retain military support for the key U.S. ally on the ground against the Islamic State (ISIS). Trump’s actions damaged U.S. interests because he was focused on pursuing his own personal agenda, Menendez said.

The senator called for a complete list of the calls that have taken place between Trump and Erdoğan, as well as details including summaries and participants.