Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Brett McGurk, White House coordinator for the Middle East, was almost like a “director” of terrorist groups in Syria, daily Milliyet reported on Thursday.

The former special U.S. envoy to Syria “walks arm in arm with terror groups” and is “a supporter of terrorism”, Erdoğan told reporters on his way back from Russia.

“This man virtually does dispatch and administration for terrorist organisations,” Erdoğan said.

During his time as special envoy, McGurk worked closely with the majority-Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), a collection of forces who were the main boots on the ground for the U.S.-led coalition against the Islamic State (ISIS). He resigned when former U.S. President Donald Trump decided to withdraw from Syria in 2019, and was appointed to the National Security Council by his successor Joe Biden in January.

Turkey considers the SDF to be the Syrian arm of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which has fought for Kurdish autonomy for four decades on Turkish soil. The United States also designates the PKK a terrorist group.

Erdoğan called on the United States to leave Syria completely, and said Turkey remained committed to every decision agreed with Russia on Syria, Anadolu said.

According to the Turkish president, more than one million Syrians have already returned to their country. Among them, he said, 400,000 people had settled in the Idlib province, held by Turkey-backed rebel groups.

Agreements with Russia to eliminate the PKK from Syria must be fulfilled, Erdoğan told reporters, calling for increased cooperation with the country on counter-terrorism.

Turkey is in the process of acquiring more S-400 missile defence systems from Russia, a point of contention that has created great tension between the two countries, Erdoğan said.

Top generals in charge of Turkey’s military operations in Syria have sought retirement amid escalating tensions in Idlib, fueling questions over Ankara’s Syria policies.

By Metin Gurcan,

Turkey was rattled last week by reports that five generals serving on Syria-related missions were seeking to resign, including the head of a command center in charge of all Turkish operations in Syria and two others at the helm of commando forces that are deployed in Syria on a rotational basis.

An unnamed Defense Ministry official told the state-run Anatolia news agency that only two generals had asked to retire “due to health and familial reasons” and their requests had been granted. “The presentation of the two generals’ retirement requests as something extraordinary [and a sign of] problems within the Turkish Armed Forces is seen as an effort to create perceptions aimed at discrediting the Turkish Armed Forces,” the official was quoted as saying.

Still, abrupt retirement requests by meritorious generals with ample operational experience and bright careers ahead of them are highly unusual in the deep-rooted traditions of the Turkish military, especially in the middle of critical missions. Early retirement requests by such figures can be read as a gesture of disagreement with their superiors or disapproval of government policies.

In the context of Turkey’s military intervention in Syria, the following reasons seem likely: 

• The government’s Syria policy — or lack thereof — has become so irreconcilable with the operational reality in Syria that commanders are struggling to cover it up on the ground. 
• The government’s policy and political directives on Syria have come to significantly jeopardize the safety of Turkish soldiers.
• Military commanders and their units are growing increasingly disturbed by the intensity of operations and frequency of rotations. 
• The overall risk is growing for Turkey in Syria, especially in Idlib, the last stronghold of radical Islamist rebels.

Indeed, the situation in Idlib has markedly escalated in recent weeks. Developments in the region suggest that it is becoming harder for thousands of Turkish troops deployed at more than 30 military outposts in Idlib to keep their positions. Intensified air raids by Russian and Syrian warplanes as well as ongoing Syrian military reinforcements around Saraqib have made it almost impossible for Turkish military outposts in the area to operate properly, secure logistical supplies, evacuate sick or wounded soldiers or patrol critical routes.

Most recently, three Turkish soldiers were killed Sept. 11 when an anti-tank guided missile hit their armored vehicle on a road between Idlib city and Binnish.

Turkish-Russian accords on Idlib have thus far allowed Turkey to maintain its military presence in the region. It has effectively served as a barrier to large-scale offensives by Syrian government forces to recapture the province. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is scheduled to meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Sochi Sept. 29, a summit that might prove a turning point for Turkey in Syria with serious implications in domestic politics. This time, Russia appears keen on securing the evacuation of six Turkish military outposts in the area between Idlib and Saraqib to the east, clearing the way for Syrian government forces to march on Idlib from the east and the northeast and eventually recapture it. Such a move would mean that Moscow no longer sees a need to collaborate with Turkey in Idlib and limit the Turkish military presence to the north of Idlib. Such a development is likely to trigger a fresh refugee flow to and across the Turkish border and stoke anti-refugee sentiments in Turkey atop the recent public outcry over the influx of Afghansfleeing the Taliban.

Controversy over the Turkish military’s personnel management has been fanned further by reports about a record number of colonels being forced into early retirement — around 200 at the Supreme Military Council in August and about 600 at last year’s council. 

Overstaffing at the rank of colonel has long been an issue for the Defense Ministry, but the measures taken have resulted in highly unfair procedures. The service term of military officers was limited to 28 years in 2016 and a promotion to general now requires a decision by the Supreme Military Council, regardless of age and length of service. Those who are not promoted could be sent into retirement as early as their 40s and despite their involuntary retirements, would have to wait until the age of 50 to receive pensions. Hundreds of colonels have reportedly been affected by the policy, left without financial means and social security until the age of 50 after at least 20 years of military service. Their numbers will grow each year unless this unfair procedure is rectified. 

By sending young colonels into retirement, the Turkish military is losing officers at their most productive age even as it seems to struggle to find senior-level officers for critical posts. Instead, perhaps the ministry should focus on legal amendments that keep officers longer in lower ranks and prevent them from climbing too quickly through automatic promotions. 

Meanwhile, the changes in the military’s long-established assignment and promotion system have fueled questions of whether Erdogan’s government is conducting covert purges to create room for loyalists and the Turkish Armed Forces are on the way to becoming partisan.

The military had already seen massive purges and shakeups after the failed coup attempt in July 2016. Controversial legal amendments removed parliamentary oversight and other checks and balances in the military-government relationship, establishing absolute presidential control. And since Erdogan assumed sweeping executive powers in 2018, the military has become increasingly politicized and embroiled in daily political bickering.

Erdogan’s government has repeatedly shown that it seeks unquestioned control of any changes in the military rather than an inclusive process of reform that is based on compromise and open to public debate, including the views of the opposition. As a result, the military continues to be drawn into the clamor of daily politics. Ultimately, the controversies are not only harming morale and motivation in the military, but also eroding its operational effectiveness.

“We had informed that hours ago the former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan and the well-known arms supplier Davit Galstyan (Patron Davit) were brought to the Court of General Jurisdiction of the Kentron-Nork Marash administrative districts of Yerevan.

We were informed a while ago that the court released the former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan with his signature. It should be noted that the NSS motion to detain Davit Tonoyan will be heard tomorrow in the Court of General Jurisdiction of the Kentron-Nork Marash administrative districts of Yerevan. It should be reminded that today a search was carried out in the apartments of former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan, as well as other former and current high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense

BY ARTHUR HERMAN

There’s a familiar saying: Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. “Fool me three times, however, and all is forgiven” has become a good description of U.S. policy toward Pakistan in the post-Cold War era. 

For more than three decades, our supposed ally in South Asia has systematically lied to and manipulated successive presidential administrations — Republican and Democratic — in ways that have made the U.S. and the world less safe. Islamabad has been the recipient of more than $33 billion in American assistance since 2002, including $14 billionto combat terrorism and insurgents in the region even while Pakistan has been busily doing the opposite.

In the wake of the debacle of withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, it’s time to radically reassess our policy toward Pakistan. It’s time for policymakers, past and present, to explain why we continue to provide assistance to a country that cozies up to our enemies; has proliferatednuclear technology to some of the worst governments on earth; and has betrayed our friendship time and again. 

There’s a familiar saying: Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. “Fool me three times, however, and all is forgiven” has become a good description of U.S. policy toward Pakistan in the post-Cold War era. 

For more than three decades, our supposed ally in South Asia has systematically lied to and manipulated successive presidential administrations — Republican and Democratic — in ways that have made the U.S. and the world less safe. Islamabad has been the recipient of more than $33 billion in American assistance since 2002, including $14 billionto combat terrorism and insurgents in the region even while Pakistan has been busily doing the opposite.

In the wake of the debacle of withdrawing U.S. troops from Afghanistan, it’s time to radically reassess our policy toward Pakistan. It’s time for policymakers, past and present, to explain why we continue to provide assistance to a country that cozies up to our enemies; has proliferatednuclear technology to some of the worst governments on earth; and has betrayed our friendship time and again. 

Fool me once? That was when Pakistan, having violated commitments to the U.S. in the 1980s to not build a nuclear weapon, not only did so but proceeded to proliferate that knowledge via the A.Q. Khan network. That proliferation network secretly armed North Korea, and would have armed Iraq and Libya if the U.S. hadn’t intervened. 

Fool me twice? Following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan gave safe haven to the most wanted man in the War on Terror, Osama bin Laden, for nearly a decade until U.S. special forces tracked him down in 2011. In addition, Pakistan’s military and secret service have continuously protected and assisted terrorist groups, including the Haqqani network and the Taliban, even as U.S. and NATO forces were fighting and dying to suppress the same groups.   

The third egregious breach in trust has been Pakistan’s increasingly cozy ties to China. The government accepted a $60 billion handout from Chinain 2013, formalizing the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) as part of China’s Belt and Road global infrastructure initiative. Today, Pakistan is all but a Chinese client state. For example, we know that China is training Pakistan’s intelligence services and that the People’s Liberation Army and Pakistani army are forging close links, including conducting joint military exercises and buying Chinese tanks, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and other military equipment.  

These aren’t the actions of an ally.  The sad truth is, Pakistan has been playing a clever double game with the U.S., which has paid off handsomely for Islamabad but not for the peace and security of the region. 

Given that history, and in the wake of Pakistan’s support of the Taliban and its top security chief’s journey to Kabul to bless the new Afghan government, Washington should stop sales of military equipment to Pakistan and all economic assistance, and induce allies such as Britain and Saudi Arabia to do the same; migrate Pakistan from the “grey list” to the “black list” for the Financial Action Task Force’s sanctions against countries providing funding for terrorism, alongside Iran and North Korea; and impose sanctions on individual Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and Pakistan Army officials, including suspending travel to the U.S. and freezing bank assets, just as we do with other officials involved in state-sponsored terrorism networks.

Of course, Pakistan holds a wild card that, until now, has been the excuse for staying America’s hand: its nuclear arsenal. Critics argue that taking tough actions against Islamabad will encourage its leaders to “go rogue” with their nuclear program, including possibly supplying terrorist groups with nuclear technology. 

The fact is, Pakistan has been somewhat of a rogue nuclear player for some time. It never has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. Indeed, as the Iranian and North Korean nuclear programs have demonstrated, there are always clandestine steps that can be taken that will limit or thwart Pakistan’s nuclear ambitions — provided the U.S. has the will to use them.

The situation in Pakistan is not entirely bleak. There are those in the army and political institutions who understand that their country’s cozying up to terrorist groups, and to China, can only damage their country in the long term. As John Bolton put it in a recent Washington Post article, “Pakistan is the only government consisting simultaneously of arsonists and firefighters.”

U.S. policy needs to encourage the firefighters to put the arsonists permanently out of business.  So far, our pandering has allowed Pakistan to help set the rest of the region on fire. It’s time to make Pakistan realize we no longer will treat them as a friend or ally, until and unless they stop behaving like an enemy.  

Arthur Herman is senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and author most recently of “The Viking Heart: How Scandinavians Conquered the World” (Houghton Mifflin, 2021). 

YEREVAN. – The National Security Service (NSS) of Armenia continues its investigation of the criminal case initiated on the abuse of official powers and committing official falsifications by the high-ranking officials of the Ministry of Defense and of the Armed Forces in the process of supplying ammunition for the needs of the Armed Forces, the NSS informed Armenian News-NEWS.am.

And within the framework of this investigation, Davit Tonoyan, who held the post of Minister of Defense in 2018-2020, as well as David Galstyan, the director of an arms supplying company, were detained on Wednesday on suspicion of large-scale embezzlement.

On the same day, they were included as defendants in embezzling 2,277,323,840 drams (approx. US$4,624,380), as well as committing falsifications and publicly dangerous actions, and petitions were filed with the court to remand them in custody.

In addition, criminal proceedings have been instituted—within the framework of the aforesaid criminal case—also against several former and current high-ranking members of the armed forces—and for abusing power and committing official falsifications.

YouTube will block all anti-vaccine content, moving beyond its ban on false information about the COVID vaccines to include content that contains misinformation about other approved vaccines, it said in a blog post on Wednesday.

Examples of content that won’t be allowed on YouTube include claims that the flu vaccine causes infertility and that the MMR shot, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella, can cause autism, according to YouTube’s policies.

The online video company owned by Alphabet Inc is also banning channels associated with several prominent anti-vaccine activists including Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Joseph Mercola, a YouTube spokesperson said.

A press email for Mercola’s website said in a statement: “We are united across the world, we will not live in fear, we will stand together and restore our freedoms.”

Kennedy said in a statement: “There is no instance in history when censorship and secrecy have advanced either democracy or public health.”

The moves come as YouTube and other tech giants like Facebook Inc. and Twitter Inc. have been criticized for not doing enough to stop the spread of false health information on their sites.

YouTube’s move follows a decision by Facebook last year to remove false claims about Covid vaccines once they have been debunked by public health experts.

Pashinyan trying systematically to implicate everyone to free himself from crime

At the moment, the apartment of former Minister of Defense Davit Tonoyan is being searched, according to Hraparak daily of Armenia.

As per the newspaper, simultaneous searches are underway in the apartments of former chief of military aviation Avetik Muradyan, and Deputy Chief of General Staff Stepan Galstyan. Also, the latter was summoned to the National Security Service (NSS).

Next, they will “visit” former CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov, and former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan—who is now an opposition MP.

Apparently, these actions are carried out within the framework of the criminal case in connection with the arms supply contracts—and which is being investigated by the NSS.

We just recently received information that Tonoyan has been detained, and soon the investigative body will enter the court with a petition to arrest him.

On September 25, the NSS had reported that the former head of the Armenian air forces had been detained on suspicion of abusing power and committing official falsifications. According to the respective statement, he was aware ex officio that back in 2011, a company supplying weapons and ammunition had imported to Armenia missiles that were manufactured between 1985 and 1991.

But some time after their delivery, some of these missiles were not fired and were taken off the balance sheet, and the rest were not used at all—including during the 44-day Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh) war that began on September 27, 2020.

Famous Armenian singer, composer, People’s Artist of RA Hayko died on Wednesday aged 43. The news was confirmed by the Yerevan Medical University. Hayko was diagnosed with COVID-19 days ago and w=lace at hospital with health condition assessed as serious. 

Hayk Hakobyan (known as Hayko) was born in 1973 in Yerevan. Throughout his career he has won numerous awards and prizes, representing Armenia in different festivals. In 1996, Hayko participated in the “Moskva 96” (“Moscow 96”) festival and was awarded First Prize. In 1997, at the “Big Apple” festival in New York City Hayko won the first prize and a year later  was acknowledged as “The Best Author – Performer” at the “Ayo” Author’s Competition.

In 1999, he recorded his first CD called “Romances” which represented the well-known Armenian “city” songs with a completely new and fresh interpretation. In 2003, he gave his first solo concert at the “Alex Theatre” in the USA. Hayko was recognized as the Best Singer 2003 and 2006 at the Armenian National Music Awards.

Hayko represented Armenia in the Eurovision Song Contest final in 2007 with the song “Anytime You Need”. 

Singer Hayko’s cause of death was not COVID-19 vaccine, health ministry says