President Donald Trump said Tuesday at the NATO summit in Ankara that he is considering allowing Turkey to purchase American-made F-35 stealth fighter jets, a move that would reverse a ban imposed during his first administration after Ankara acquired a Russian missile defense system.
&#8220;We have a better relationship with Turkey, and Turkey&#8217;s been, in many ways, much more loyal than other countries that we think would be loyal,&#8221; Trump said of the NATO ally. &#8220;So, it&#8217;s something, certainly, we would consider. It&#8217;s a great plane, it&#8217;s the best, currently the best plane by far, and it&#8217;s certainly something we will consider.&#8221;
The comments mark a dramatic shift after Trump&#8217;s own first administration removed Turkey from the multinational F-35 program in 2019 over Ankara&#8217;s purchase of Russia&#8217;s S-400 missile defense system. U.S. officials warned at the time that operating the Russian system alongside the stealth fighter could expose sensitive information about the aircraft&#8217;s capabilities to Moscow.
Trump also said his administration is working to lift sanctions imposed during his first term over Turkey&#8217;s acquisition of the S-400 system.
&#8220;I can tell you we&#8217;re going to take the sanctions off,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;It&#8217;s time.&#8221;
In 2020, Congress passed a law prohibiting the transfer of F-35 aircraft to Turkey unless the administration certifies that Turkey no longer possesses the S-400 system. 
That same year, the Trump administration imposed sanctions under the Countering America&#8217;s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA) on Turkey&#8217;s Presidency of Defense Industries and several senior officials.
Then-Secretary of State <a href="https://2017-2021.state.gov/caatsa-section-231-imposition-of-sanctions-on-turkish-presidency-of-defense-industries/">Mike Pompeo said</a> Turkey&#8217;s decision endangered U.S. military technology, provided substantial funds to Russia&#8217;s defense sector, and ultimately led to Turkey&#8217;s removal from the F-35 partnership. The White House similarly argued in a July 2019 <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/statement-press-secretary-64/">statement</a> that the F-35 &#8220;cannot coexist with a Russian intelligence collection platform that will be used to learn about its advanced capabilities.&#8221;
Under the second Trump administration, U.S. and Turkish officials have spent months exploring ways to satisfy legal requirements while allowing Ankara to return to the program. According to reports, one proposal would involve transferring the S-400 systems to a third party, while other options include partially dismantling the system or relocating it to a U.S.-controlled facility in Turkey. 
Although some of the missile systems reportedly remain in their original shipping containers, no final agreement has been reached, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/06/us/politics/trump-turkey-f35.html">The New York Times.</a>
The issue has been under active review inside the Trump administration. During an Oval Office meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte last month, Trump suggested he hoped to deliver Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a &#8220;gift&#8221; that would make him &#8220;very happy.&#8221; Vice President JD Vance later said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was reviewing whether legal conditions required under U.S. law could be met before any sale proceeds. Trump added, &#8220;We will work it out.&#8221;
Congressional restrictions remain in place. Under the Fiscal Year 2020 National Defense Authorization Act, the Defense Department is prohibited from transferring F-35s to Turkey while the country possesses the S-400 system. Six Turkish-owned F-35 aircraft remain in storage in the United States, while approximately $1.7 billion that Turkey had previously paid for the program has not been returned, according to a Congressional Research Service <a href="https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44000?__cf_chl_f_tk=ywqE7JfInFIwjw1sPy8VxovHtDKvumnEi9TENRumWQ0-1783361436-1.0.1.1-GZiG9vhkgnaq7goWIQI6poxuUDBL7JhZBrJ9y0bagac">report.</a>
During Erdogan&#8217;s White House visit last year — his first in roughly six years — Trump <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-presses-erdogan-to-stop-buying-russian-oil-may-lift-sanctions-on-turkey?author=Reuters+and+Daily+Wire+News&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Trump+Presses+Erdogan+To+Stop+Buying+Russian+Oil%2C+May+Lift+Sanctions+On+Turkey">suggested</a> he would consider lifting sanctions and allowing Turkey to reenter the F-35 program if Ankara stopped purchasing Russian oil.
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,&#8221; Trump said.
According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/turkey-buys-more-non-russian-oil-after-latest-western-sanctions-sources-say-2025-11-02/">Reuters</a>, Turkey later sought to reduce its reliance on Russian energy by pursuing additional oil imports from Iraq, Kazakhstan, and other suppliers in late 2025.
Trump&#8217;s comments came during his visit to Ankara for the NATO summit, which he said he nearly skipped because of his frustrations with the alliance.
&#8220;I was very disappointed with NATO,&#8221; Trump said. &#8220;Frankly, if it weren&#8217;t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it&#8217;s possible that I wouldn&#8217;t have attended.&#8221;
Trump again criticized European allies for what he said was an unequal burden-sharing arrangement, arguing the United States has spent &#8220;hundreds of billions of dollars&#8221; defending allies that have not reciprocated U.S. support — especially during the recent conflict with Iran. 
At last year&#8217;s NATO summit in The Hague, most alliance members <a href="https://www.nato.int/en/what-we-do/introduction-to-nato/defence-expenditures-and-natos-5-commitment">agreed</a> to a new goal of spending 5% of GDP on defense and defense-related needs by 2035. Under the plan, at least 3.5% would go toward core military capabilities, while up to 1.5% could be spent on defense-related infrastructure, cybersecurity, resilience, and industrial capacity. 
The prospect of restoring Turkey&#8217;s access to Lockheed Martin’s F-35 has also alarmed Israel. In addition to Ankara&#8217;s increasingly hostile rhetoric toward the Jewish state, Erdogan has long backed the Muslim Brotherhood and provided refuge to many of its leaders after the group was ousted from power in Egypt.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who said he has repeatedly urged Trump not to move forward with the sale, warned that Erdogan &#8220;is not exactly a model ally of the United States&#8221; and argued the aircraft would upset the regional military balance.
&#8220;This is not a force for peace and stability,&#8221; Netanyahu said in an interview <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/07/07/politics/netanyahu-opposes-sale-f35-jets">with CNN</a> on Tuesday. &#8220;When you give them that power, you&#8217;re going to see aggression in its wake.&#8221;

Turkey’s President Erdogan visits White House, in Washington

Trump Considers Reversing One Of His Own First-Term Foreign Policy Decisions

Donald Trump

Executive

F-35

Politics

Recep Tayyip Erdogan

Turkey

WASHINGTON — The only reason President Donald Trump is in Ankara, Turkey, for the NATO summit is his friendship with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
That&#8217;s according to the president himself, who <a href="https://www.trtworld.com/article/793ea03f89ef?utm_source=chatgpt.com">told reporters</a> ahead of his visit, &#8220;If the summit was not taking place in Türkiye, I don&#8217;t think I would have gone to it. I&#8217;m going out of respect to President Erdoğan.&#8221;
The president is deeply frustrated with NATO and has criticized NATO for years, most notably since the war with Iran began, repeatedly calling out United States allies who wouldn&#8217;t support the operation against Iran.
Erdoğan, meanwhile, has consistently delivered on what Trump has asked for, and the president remains grateful.
“I was very disappointed with NATO, and frankly, if it weren’t held in Turkey, where my friend happens to be a very strong leader, a very strong person, it’s possible that I wouldn’t have attended,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Erdoğan on Tuesday. “I felt I had to attend because of the fact that, you know, I know he’s gone all out.”
Erdoğan has been an “incredible partner in the region,” White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told The Daily Wire on Tuesday, describing the two leaders as having a “great relationship.&#8221;
Most recently, Trump <a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-900436">says he personally called </a><a href="https://www.jpost.com/international/article-900436">Erdoğan</a> and asked him to stay out of the Iran war amid rumors that Turkey would assist Iran, given that Erdoğan is openly against Israel. Erdoğan agreed to Trump&#8217;s request, keeping Turkey neutral throughout the conflict despite regional pressure. 
&#8220;We didn&#8217;t need any help at all,&#8221; Trump said of the matter on Tuesday, &#8220;And in a way, I was testing people, I was testing to see whether or not they&#8217;d be there, because I&#8217;ve long said that we helped them, but I&#8217;m not sure that they&#8217;d be there for us. And Italy turned us down, and Germany turned us down, and France turned us down, and it&#8217;s okay, but you know, why are we spending hundreds of billions of dollars and they&#8217;re not there for us? We&#8217;ve always been there for them.&#8221;
<div id="attachment_1129741" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-praises-turkeys-erdogan-for-his-friendship-highlighting-frustration-with-allies/u-s-president-trump-arrives-in-ankara-turkey-for-nato-summit-2" rel="attachment wp-att-1129741"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1129741" class="wp-image-1129741 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2285073298-864x576.jpg" alt="" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2285073298-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2285073298-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2285073298-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/07/GettyImages-2285073298.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" /></a>U.S. President Donald Trump (R) walks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan during a state arrival ceremony at the Bestepe Presidential Complex for the annual NATO Summit on July 7, 2026 in Ankara, Turkey. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)</div>
Erdoğan <a href="https://euromaidanpress.com/2025/10/09/reuters-turkeys-billion%E2%80%91dollar-gas-shift-could-collapse-russias-last-major-foothold-in-europe/">also agreed to huge liquefied natural gas</a> (LNG) procurement contracts with the United States as a business favor to President Trump in 2025, a move seen as an effort to curry favor with Trump and his new administration. The Turkish leader also pushed European and NATO allies to buy LNG in order to reduce trade deficits. 
Trump and Erdoğan <a href="https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-meeting-pastor-andrew-brunson/">came to an agreement</a> during Trump&#8217;s first term in office to release Pastor Andrew Brunson from captivity in Turkey — Brunson, an American evangelical pastor, had been accused of spying and terrorism and was detained in Turkey until Trump successfully negotiated his release in 2018. Trump specifically brought this up on Tuesday, noting that he was grateful for Brunson&#8217;s release.
And in 2019, Erdoğan twice conceded to requests from Trump: he backed off his threat to veto NATO&#8217;s plans to defend the Baltic states and Poland and allowed NATO&#8217;s defense plans to move forward after meeting privately with Trump. Erdoğan similarly fulfilled Trump&#8217;s request for Turkey to take over the U.S fight against ISIS in northern Syria.
Trump is now considering approving a sale of F-35 fighter jets to Turkey. The sale would likely prove contentious since Turkey was removed from the F-35 program in 2019 after the country purchased Russian S-400 air defense systems. That move prompted concerns that Russia would have access to sensitive information about the U.S. fighter jet.
On Monday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued that the United States should not sell the jets to Turkey, saying that it would “upset the power balance” in the Middle East.
“I don’t think they should be given F-35s or the engines for their fighter jets, because that&#8217;ll upset the power balance in the Middle East which is ultimately guaranteed by Israeli air superiority and also by, I think, by America’s posture in the Middle East,”  Netanyahu said on Fox &amp; Friends.
Erdoğan reminded reporters of President Trump&#8217;s promise on Tuesday. &#8220;I believe that President Trump also has made a promise on this separately, and during the meeting of the leaders&#8217; summit, we do hope that the promise that we have previously received is going to be productively tested towards the future. President Trump has always been a man of his word, and hopefully with respect to the F-35.&#8221;
During Tuesday&#8217;s bilateral, Trump said he has &#8220;good chemistry&#8221; with Erdoğan, adding, &#8220;we&#8217;ve had a very special relationship.&#8221; He noted that the two leaders would be discussing trade, the military, and Iran, noting of the F-35s, &#8220;It&#8217;s a decision we&#8217;re going to make. It&#8217;s a very good relationship.&#8221;
&#8220;Because of the relationship that we have, it&#8217;s all gone very well,&#8221; he added, &#8220;I want to say I have a lot of respect for the president.&#8221;

U.S. President Trump Arrives In Ankara, Turkey For NATO Summit

Trump Praises Turkey’s Erdogan For His Friendship, Highlighting Frustration With Allies

NATO

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump suggested the U.S. could lift sanctions on Turkey and allow it to buy U.S. F-35 jets as he kicked off talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, but said he wanted Ankara to stop purchases of Russian oil.
Erdogan&#8217;s first visit to the White House in about six years started off with a warm welcome from Trump. Seated side by side in the Oval Office, Trump called Erdogan a &#8220;very tough man&#8221; and said they remained &#8220;friends&#8221; while his predecessor Joe Biden was in office.
Ankara is keen to leverage the friendly personal relationship to further national interests and benefit from a U.S. administration eager to make deals in return for big-ticket arms and trade agreements.
Still, Trump pressed Erdogan to cut off oil purchases from Russia, as he tries to put pressure on Russia&#8217;s sources for funding its war in Ukraine. Turkey, Hungary, and Slovakia are the main European purchasers of Russian oil.
&#8220;I&#8217;d like to have him stop buying any oil from Russia while Russia continues this rampage against Ukraine,&#8221; Trump said of Erdogan.
Asked whether he was willing to make a deal to sell F-35s to Turkey, Trump told reporters, &#8220;I think he&#8217;ll be successful in buying the things that he wants to buy. &#8220;Trump also said he could lift sanctions against Turkey &#8220;very soon,&#8221; and that &#8220;if we have a good meeting, almost immediately.&#8221;
The Biden administration had kept Turkey at arm&#8217;s length partly over what it saw as the fellow NATO member&#8217;s close ties with Russia. Under Trump, who has closer personal ties with Erdogan, Ankara is hoping for a better relationship.
Trump and Erdogan had a checkered relationship during the Republican president&#8217;s first term. But since his return to the White House, their interests have aligned on Syria &#8211; source of the biggest bilateral strain in the past &#8211; where the U.S. and Turkey now both strongly back the central government.
The mood shift has renewed Turkish hopes that Trump and Erdogan, who have exchanged mutual praise, can find a way around U.S. sanctions imposed by Trump himself in 2020 over Turkey&#8217;s acquisition of Russian S-400 missile defenses.
That, in turn, could pave the way for Ankara to buy Lockheed Martin&#8217;s advanced F-35 fighter jets, for which it was both a buyer and manufacturer until it was barred over the S-400s.
Erdogan has said the defense industry, including the topic of F-35s and ongoing negotiations over 40 F-16 jets Ankara also wants, would be a focus of the meeting, along with regional wars, energy, and trade.
Turkey, NATO&#8217;s second-largest army, wants to ramp up air power to counter what it sees as growing threats in the Middle East, Eastern Mediterranean, and the Black Sea, where it neighbours Russia and Ukraine.
Erdogan also told reporters that he was &#8220;ready to do whatever is needed from us&#8221; to reopen an Orthodox Christian seminary that was shut by the Turkish state in 1971 and has remained a source of contention with Greece and the European Union ever since.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, the spiritual head of Orthodox Christians worldwide based in Istanbul, also met with Trump in Washington this month and was quoted as saying he hopes the theological school on Heybeliada Island can accept students next year.
Turkey, which is overwhelmingly Muslim, has in the past resisted reopening the seminary near Istanbul despite years of pressure from the European Union, which it aspires to join.
Erdogan said he would discuss the issue with Bartholomew when he returns to Turkey.
(Reporting by Jeff Mason, Tuvan Gumrukcu in Ankara, Jonathan Spicer and Daren Butler in Istanbul, and Mike Stone in Washington; Writing by Steve Holland; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk and Deepa Babington)

Trump Presses Erdogan To Stop Buying Russian Oil, May Lift Sanctions On Turkey

Russia

White House

In a move unsurprising given Turkey’s harshly anti-Israel Islamist government, the country’s foreign minister announced Friday that Turkey has cut commercial ties with Israel—barring Israeli vessels from its ports, blocking Turkish ships from Israeli ports, and restricting Israeli planes from entering Turkish airspace.
“We have totally cut our trade with Israel, we have closed off our ports to Israeli ships and we are not allowing Turkish vessels to go to Israel’s ports,” Hakan Fidan <a href="applewebdata://E83BCD95-A919-40A1-B24F-AA45CF3D369A/v">stated</a>. “We are not allowing container ships carrying weapons and ammunition to Israel to enter our ports, and airplanes to go into our airspace.”
Before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan came to power in 2014, Turkey and Israel had strong strategic ties. That soured quickly, although a brief reconciliation occurred in 2016. Erdogan threatened to break relations again in 2017 after the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. Diplomatic ties were restored in August 2022, but only 16 days after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of more than 1200 Israelis, Erdogan stated, “Hamas is not a terrorist organization … [but rather] a liberation group, ‘mujahideen’ waging a battle to protect its lands and people.”
“Turkey’s antipathy toward Israel and its affinity for Hamas is now so well established that diplomats accept it as fact. The open romance between the NATO member and the terror group began in 2006,” FDD reported. Erdogan has <a href="https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2025/03/28/hamas-and-turkey-partners-in-terror/">stated,</a> “I don’t see Hamas as a terror organization. Hamas is a political party.”
Erdogan has accused Israel of “genocide” and supported South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice. In March of this year, Erdogan delivered a speech in which he <a href="https://www.israelhayom.com/2025/03/30/turkish-president-calls-for-israels-destruction-and-ruin/">ranted,</a> “May Allah bring destruction and ruin upon Zionist Israel.”
In September 2024, at the United Nations, Erdogan likened Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Adolf Hitler, <a href="https://www.welt.de/politik/ausland/article253687116/Erdogan-vergleicht-Netanjahu-erneut-mit-Hitler-So-wie-vor-70-Jahren.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com">saying,</a> “Just as Hitler was stopped 70 years ago … so must Netanyahu and his murder gang be stopped.” In June 2025, he escalated his rhetoric, <a href="https://cadenaser.com/nacional/2025/06/18/erdogan-acusa-a-netanyahu-de-haber-superado-a-hitler-por-la-masacre-de-palestinos-en-gaza-cadena-ser/?utm_source=chatgpt.com">saying</a>, “Netanyahu has surpassed Hitler in terms of genocide,” an insane declaration. Netanyahu <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-67861266">fired back</a>, “Erdogan, who commits genocide against the Kurds, who holds a world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his rule, is the last person who can preach morality to us.”
<a href="https://get.dailywire.com/subscribe/plus/?utm_campaign=summer&amp;utm_content=editorialsummersale&amp;utm_medium=website&amp;utm_source=editorial" target="_blank" rel="noopener">End of Summer Sale – Get 40% off New DailyWire+ Annual Memberships</a>
In August 2024, Israeli Minister of Foreign Affairs Israel Katz bashed Erdogan after he said the U.S. and Western countries were “taken hostage by the Zionists in Israel.”
“Erdogan, the ones taken hostage are the citizens of Turkey, trapped in your dictatorship,” Katz wrote on X. “You blocked Instagram for 57 million users in your country but left access to your own Instagram account. No matter how many attacks are made against me, I will continue to expose the truth to the people of Turkey and the world. A leader who embraces Hamas, oppresses his people, and acts like a dictator is a dictator.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The anti-Semitic dictator <a href="https://twitter.com/RTErdogan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@RTErdogan</a> attacked the US and Western countries yesterday, saying they were &#8220;taken hostage by the Zionists in Israel.&#8221;
Erdoğan, the ones taken hostage are the citizens of Turkey, trapped in your dictatorship. You blocked Instagram for 57 million users… <a href="https://t.co/EOgELcp2G4">pic.twitter.com/EOgELcp2G4</a>
— ישראל כ”ץ Israel Katz (@Israel_katz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Israel_katz/status/1820745033516998797?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 6, 2024</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Erdoğan Holds Press Conference After Cabinet Meeting

No Surprise: Anti-Israel Turkish Regime Cuts Commercial Ties With Jewish State

Benjamin Netanyahu

Global Politics

Israel

The possible outcomes for Syria after the fall of President Bashar al-Assad generally range from bad to worse, though the regime’s end may serve U.S. interests in the region.
Assad’s regime was well-known for the brutality it directed toward its own people as Assad sought to maintain power through a lengthy and bloody civil war. But with terror groups and jihadis in control of large swaths of the country, Syria’s next government could be as harsh or worse toward religious and ethnic minorities.
“Domestically, [Assad’s ouster] is probably going to result in chaos because, prior to Hafez al-Assad&#8217;s taking over 50 years ago, there was one coup after another in Syria,” Hillsdale College history professor Dr. Paul Rahe told The Daily Wire.
<div id="attachment_843363" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843363" class="size-large wp-image-843363" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188582619-864x576.jpg" alt="Syrians Gather In The Umayyad Square In The Heart Of Damascus To Celebrate The Fall Of The Assad Regime On December 9, 2024.(Photo by Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188582619-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188582619-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188582619-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188582619.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Rami Alsayed/NurPhoto via Getty Images</div>
That chaos is largely a result of Syria’s creation out of imperial holdings of the British and French after the first world war, according to Rahe.
“The crucial thing to understand is that Syria is artificial. It goes back to the divvying up of the Near East between the British and the French after World War I. So, there really isn&#8217;t a country there,” Rahe said.
“The difficulties in bringing order to Syria other than the kind of order that Assad imposed – which is violent and dictatorial and tyrannical – the difficulty is very, very great. I don&#8217;t think we should expect this to produce a new awakening for Syria and good things,” he continued. “It may be good for us, … but I wouldn’t be shocked if the civil war continued.”
Amid the chaos, Russia risks the loss of its Tartus naval base on the Mediterranean, as well as the Khmeimim airbase, an important staging post between Russia and its operations in Africa. Iran’s losses are arguably greater. Tehran has spent decades building networks and infrastructure in Syria to supply its terror proxies throughout the region.
<div id="attachment_842239" style="width: 1034px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-842239" class="wp-image-842239 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-1024x576.jpg" alt="TOPSHOT - An aerial photo shows Syrian naval ships destroyed during an overnight Israeli attack on the port city of Latakia on December 10, 2024. The UN special envoy for Syria on December 10 called on Israel to halt its military movements and bombardments inside Syria, days after the fall of president Bashar al-Assad. (Photo by AAREF WATAD / AFP) (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)" width="1024" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-300x169.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-768x432.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2188589898-2048x1152.jpg 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" />An aerial photo shows Syrian naval ships destroyed during an overnight Israeli attack on the port city of Latakia on December 10, 2024. (Photo by AAREF WATAD/AFP via Getty Images)</div>
Whether Moscow and Tehran can maintain the influence they had with the new regional authority remains to be seen, though the odds are doubtful. Reports say both Russia and Iran have pulled resources out of the country in the days since Assad’s ouster.
The group responsible for Assad’s fall is Ha’yat Tehrir al-Sham (HTS), a U.S.-designated terror group that led the rebel coalition against the Assad regime. HTS is led by a man who, until recently, was known by his nom de guerre <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/who-is-syrian-rebel-leader-mohammad-al-jolani" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Abu Mohammad al-Jolani</a>. He dropped the name while distancing himself from his radical Islamist past, recently reverting to his real name, Ahmed al-Sharaa.
Sharaa, with his past ties to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State, is wanted under a $10 million bounty by the United States.
Sharaa is closely aligned with Turkey and its autocratic ruler, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, leaving the Turks in the best position to influence the possible next leader of Syria. That influence could have a significant impact on how U.S. interests in the region are served, according to Rahe.
“Whether it&#8217;s in our interest or in the interest of the Israelis depends to a great degree on the policy of Turkey, and there&#8217;s no clarity about the policy of Turkey with regard to Israel,” Rahe said. “At times, the Erdogan government has cooperated very closely with the Israelis. At other times, it has been strongly hostile to Israel.”
Despite the questions surrounding Turkey, the fact that Tehran is no longer the dominant state sponsor in Syria bodes well.
“[Assad] was a pawn of Iran, so the weakening of Iran is very good for us,” Rahe said. “If it turns out to be a radical Islamist regime on the border of Israel, it will be trouble. But will it be as much trouble as Iran was with Assad, with Hezbollah, with the Houthis? I think not. So, on the whole, I think it’s a piece of luck for us.”
<div id="attachment_843367" style="width: 874px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-843367" class="size-large wp-image-843367" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2189513052-864x576.jpg" alt="UNSPECIFIED, SYRIA - DECEMBER 11: Islamist rebels of the Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) stand guard at the entrance of the first abandoned military base that reads Our Leader Forever - Hafez al-Assad on December 11, 2024, inside Lebanons border with Syria, Rebel forces in Syria have retaken the capital from longtime ruler Bashar al-Assad, who has fled the country for Moscow. The fall of the Assad regime marks a new chapter for Syria, which has been mired in a multi-party civil war since 2011, sparked by the Arab Spring uprisings. (Photo by Scott Peterson/Getty Images)" width="864" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2189513052-864x576.jpg 864w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2189513052-300x200.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2189513052-768x512.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2024/12/GettyImages-2189513052.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 864px) 100vw, 864px" />Scott Peterson/Getty Images</div>
The United States has roughly 1,000 troops in Syria, left over from forces ordered there under the Obama administration to fight the rise of the Islamic State. President Joe Biden has dedicated American forces toward that aim again, launching dozens of airstrikes against Islamic State positions in Syria in the past week.
“We’re clear-eyed about the fact that ISIS will try to take advantage of any vacuum to reestablish its capability and to create a safe haven. We will not let that happen,” Biden <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2024/12/08/remarks-by-president-biden-on-the-latest-developments-in-syria/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a> in remarks from the White House on December 8.
Biden’s limited interventions in Syria appear to be more than President-elect Donald Trump prefers or would pursue after he takes office in January.
“Syria is a mess, but is not our friend, &amp; THE UNITED STATES SHOULD HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH IT,” Trump said in a recent post on Truth Social. “THIS IS NOT OUR FIGHT. LET IT PLAY OUT. DO NOT GET INVOLVED!”
But with Assad out and Syria’s future governance in doubt for the first time in 50 years, should the United States move in to assert its influence and interests in the new regime? According to Rahe, that would be a bad idea based more on hubris than reality.
“It&#8217;s too easy for Americans to exaggerate American agency, our capacity to fix things, to shape things. The prudent thing to do is to watch and wait,” Rahe told The Daily Wire. “If a government emerges and it&#8217;s in control of the territory, we should recognize it and our diplomats should try to work with it. Then we’ll see.”
“But we can’t control this,” he continued. “The Russians can’t control it. The Iranians can’t control it. And my guess is, in the end, the Turks can’t control it, though they can influence things.”

TOPSHOT-SYRIA-CONFLICT

‘We Can’t Control This’: The Fall Of Assad And The Future Of Syria

Bashar Assad

Iran

Middle East

Syria

Federal prosecutors appear to be zeroing in on New York City Mayor <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/eric-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Eric Adams</a> (D) in their corruption investigation into whether his campaign conspired with the Turkish government to receive illegal foreign donations in exchange for actions that he took as mayor.
The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/15/nyregion/eric-adams-fbi-investigation.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&amp;referringSource=articleShare&amp;sgrp=c-cb" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a> that the prosecutors recently served a new round of grand jury subpoenas in their criminal investigation, including to Adams himself, who they are now investigating.
Prior to this development, most information that was publicly available pointed to prosecutors focusing only on his campaign and not the mayor directly, even though they seized his electronic devices last year.
The investigation, which is being run out of the Southern District of New York, centers around allegations that Adams’ election campaign received illegal campaign contributions from the Turkish government, possibly in exchange for actions taken by Adams, who has close ties to the country.
The criminal probe has <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/federal-grand-jury-reviewing-evidence-in-criminal-corruption-probe-involving-nyc-democrat-mayor-adams" target="_blank" rel="noopener">focused</a> on free upgrades the mayor received on Turkish Airlines flights and on Adams pressuring then-Fire Commissioner Daniel A. Nigro in 2021 to allow the Turkish government to at least have permission to occupy on a temporary basis a new high-rise consulate in Manhattan that the Turkish government built, which fire officials would not sign off on because of safety issues.
Adams’ alleged intervention “paved the way” for Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan to preside over the grand opening of their 35-story tower in September 2021. Fire officials said that there were serious safety concerns with the building’s fire safety system. The building, which cost $300 million, is the country’s most expensive foreign mission project.
<a href="https://www.amiracist.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.amiracist.com/&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1723831707612000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0pyrv88A5nsmWM2F2Wr9As">Tickets for “Am I Racist?” are on sale NOW! Buy here for a theater near you.</a>
“To be clear, we have not identified any evidence of illegal conduct by the mayor,” said two lawyers who are representing Adams and his campaign. “To the contrary, we have identified extensive evidence undermining the reported theories of federal prosecution as to the mayor, which we have voluntarily shared with the U.S. attorney.”
Adams <a href="https://www.nydailynews.com/2024/08/16/nyc-mayor-adams-believes-he-did-nothing-wrong-after-fbi-subpoena-in-campaign-probe/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">responded</a> to the latest development in a radio interview on Friday morning where he maintained his innocence and said he &#8220;did nothing wrong.&#8221;
“We’ve been extremely transparent about making sure if there are documents that’s looked at, they want to see text messages or any other items, we’re going to turn it over and walk away, I believe, showing that I did nothing wrong,” Adams said. “I am a former law enforcement person, I believe in following the rules, and I’ve stated over and over again and our team knows that we’re going to turn over any information that is needed.”

Eric Adams

Federal Prosecutors Appear To Zero In On NYC Mayor Eric Adams In Criminal Corruption Probe: Report

Crime

New York City

U.S.

<div>
After Turkish Islamist President Recep Erdogan threatened to invade Israel, the Netherlands’ Geert Wilders, a staunch defender of the Jewish state and a hardline opponent of Islamism, blasted Erdogan, calling for Turkey to be kicked out of NATO.
</div>
<div>
“Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we might do similar to them,&#8221; Erdogan <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/erdogan-says-turkey-might-enter-israel-help-palestinians-2024-07-28/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">threatened</a> on Sunday. “There is no reason why we cannot do this.”
</div>
<div>
“Islamofascist Erdogan threatens to invade Israel,” Wilders wrote on X. “This guy is totally nuts. Turkey should be kicked out of NATO.”
</div>
<div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Islamofascist Erdogan threatens to invade Israel.
This guy is totally nuts. 
Turkey should be kicked out of NATO. <a href="https://t.co/pYXHNi9XQ8">https://t.co/pYXHNi9XQ8</a>
&mdash; Geert Wilders (@geertwilderspvv) <a href="https://twitter.com/geertwilderspvv/status/1817667592125141436?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 28, 2024</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
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<div>
Wilders became the kingmaker in The Netherlands after his PVV party became the biggest Party in the Dutch parliament in the November 2023 national election. The resulting coalition found Wilders’ PVV joined with the People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD), the Farmer-Citizen Movement (BBB), and the New Social Contract (NSC). As far back as 2009, Wilders predicted the PVV would eventually <a href="https://www.dutchnews.nl/2009/03/wilders_i_want_to_be_prime_min/">become</a> the Netherlands&#8217; biggest party.
</div>
<div>
In 2007, Wilder <a href="https://uk.news.yahoo.com/geert-wilders-anti-islam-populist-once-banned-uk-extreme-views-105426384.html">stated</a>:
</div>
<div>
<blockquote>Islam is the Trojan Horse in Europe. If we do not stop Islamification now, Eurabia and Netherabia will just be a matter of time. One century ago, there were approximately 50 Muslims in the Netherlands. Today, there are about 1 million Muslims in this country. Where will it end? We are heading for the end of European and Dutch civilization as we know it.</blockquote>
</div>
<div>
He added of Erdogan, “As Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan said the other day, and I quote, &#8216;There is no moderate or immoderate Islam. Islam is Islam and that’s it.&#8217;”
</div>
<div>
In 2010, he <a href="https://x.com/Efune/status/1727444499381518772">asserted</a>, “If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, Jerusalem is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism. There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan.”
</div>

NETHERLANDS-POLITICS-GOVERNMENT

Netherlands’ Wilders Blasts Erdogan For Threat To Invade Israel: Kick Turkey Out Of NATO

Geert Wilders

The Netherlands

World

Turkish President <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/recep-tayyip-erdogan" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Recep Tayyip Erdogan</a> said during a recent press conference that he would find it &#8220;upsetting&#8221; to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization.
Erdogan made the comments during a joint appearance alongside Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, who spoke first on the topic of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
&#8220;Athens&#8217; stance on the subject is clear: Israel has every right for self defense against a bloody, provocative occupation of its territory by terrorists,&#8221; Mitsotakis began. &#8220;An attack that innocents got killed, got kidnapped and tortured by a terrorist organization that doesn&#8217;t represent Palestinians.&#8221;
WATCH:
https://twitter.com/Admeliorax/status/1790074751009816922
Erdogan&#8217;s response was measured, but he made it clear that he did not agree with Mitsotakis&#8217; assessment of Hamas.
&#8220;It is not a terrorist organization, but if you state it is a terror group here, that would be upsetting,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I never see Hamas as a terror organization. And as of now, step by step, I am following Hamas, and in my country right now, more than 1,000 members of Hamas are in our hospitals.&#8221;
<a href="https://onelink.to/dwapp" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" aria-describedby="sk-tooltip-9096" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://onelink.to/dwapp&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1700760801843000&amp;usg=AOvVaw2PQrVSrJfhxNb4LcARqniG">CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP</a>
Erdogan went on to claim that it was unfair to call Hamas a terror group, blaming &#8220;the entire west&#8221; for assisting Israel and lamenting the number of dead among the &#8220;members of Hamas.&#8221;
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Turkish President Erdogan says calling Hamas terrorists is “upsetting.”
 “I never see Hamas as a terror organization.”
Erdogan has also said Turkey is treating Hamas members in their hospitals. 
“In my country right now more than 1000 members of Hamas are in our hospitals.” <a href="https://t.co/NX6QbAwhXr">pic.twitter.com/NX6QbAwhXr</a>
&mdash; Oli London (@OliLondonTV) <a href="https://twitter.com/OliLondonTV/status/1790153174663184683?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 13, 2024</a></blockquote>
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Erdogan is not the only one reluctant to refer to Hamas as a terrorist organization even after the brutal attacks of October 7th. The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) has steadfastly refused to call Hamas &#8220;terrorists&#8221; – referring to them instead as a &#8220;Palestinian group&#8221; — earning them an earful from former British Prime Minister <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-britains-ex-pm-torches-the-bbc-for-failing-to-call-hamas-terrorists" target="_blank" rel="noopener">David Cameron</a>.
&#8220;When you see what Hamas are prepared to do, you just realize the terrible, dreadful, inhuman people, frankly, that we are dealing with,&#8221; Cameron began &#8220;And maybe it’s a moment, actually, for the BBC to ask itself again, should we describe these people as terrorists? They are terrorists.&#8221;
&#8220;If you kidnap grandmothers, you kidnap babies, you rape people, you shoot children in front of their parents. What more do they need to do for the BBC to say, look, these are terrorists? They really are.&#8221;

Erdoğan and Press Members

‘I Never See Hamas As A Terror Organization’: Turkey’s Erdogan Says It’s ‘Upsetting’ To Call Hamas ‘Terrorists’

'I Never See Hamas As A Terror Organization': Turkey's Erdogan Says It's 'Upsetting' To Call Hamas 'Terrorists'

Hamas

Terrorism

The results of new municipal elections in Turkey <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/chp-s-mansur-yavas-garners-60--of-votes-in-ankara--99-8--vot">may indicate</a> that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a harsh critic of Israel, may be in trouble in future presidential elections.
Two major parties exist in Turkey, the Justice and Development Party (AK), headed by Erdogan, and the Republican People’s Party (CHP). The election on Sunday in the two major cities of Istanbul and Ankara featured the mayors of the two cities, both of whom belong to the CHP, successfully defending their positions from candidates from the AK. Ankara mayor Mansur Yavas of the CHP won over 60% of the votes.
In addition, in 35 of Turkey’s 81 provinces, the CHP <a href="https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/chp-leads-in-35-turkish-cities--akp-only-24-with-99--votes-c">won</a> in the municipal elections; the AK won in only 25. That represented the first time in 20 years the CHP led AK in local elections.
“Voters have chosen to change the face of Turkey,” CHP chairman Ozgur Ozel stated. &#8220;They want to open the door to a new political climate in our country.&#8221;
“Unfortunately, we have not obtained the results that we wanted,” Erdogan acknowledged.
According to analysts quoted by <a href="https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/foreign-minister-katz-turkish-voters-punished-erdogan-for-attacking-israel/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Times of Israel</a>, Turkish voters have become disenchanted with Erdogan because of roughly 70% inflation and an economic slowdown.
The significance of the two major cities voting for the CHP is that Ankara is the political capital of the nation and major financial centers reside in Istanbul.
In late December, Erdogan compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler, prompting Netanyahu and other leading Israeli officials to fire back.
<a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/erdogan-projects-his-own-genocidal-intent-onto-netanyahu/">Speaking</a> in Ankara, Erdogan once <a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/erdogan-projects-his-own-genocidal-intent-onto-netanyahu/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">said</a>, “A Muslim could not commit genocide; he is not capable of it.” He also <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/turkeys-erdogan-says-israeli-pm-netanyahu-no-different-hitler-2023-12-27/">declared</a>, “They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not.”
That catalyzed this <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1740039502423265747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">response</a> from Netanyahu: “Erdogan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach morality to us. The IDF, which is the most moral army in the world, is fighting to eliminate the most abhorrent and brutal terrorist organization in the world, Hamas-ISIS, which has committed crimes against humanity, and which Erdogan has praised and whose leaders he hosts.”
Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog <a href="https://twitter.com/Isaac_Herzog/status/1740050924037460046">added</a>, “I strongly condemn and utterly reject the words of Turkish President Erdogan. In all of human history, the Holocaust stands alone in its horror and enormity, and his words are deeply offensive to every Jew around the world, and to the memory of the millions of Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis. The command ‘Never Again’ remains an imperative for the State of Israel — the nation state of the Jewish people — which is committed to the safety and protection of every Jew. There is no struggle more just than the war against the terrorist organization Hamas, which brutally and barbarically murdered Jews, as well as Muslims, and those of other faiths and nationalities.”

TOPSHOT-TURKEY-POLITICS-MUNICIPAL-VOTE

Erdogan’s Party Loses Significant Elections In Turkey

After hard-line Islamist Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan compared Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Hitler, Netanyahu joined other leading Israeli officials to fire back.
Speaking in Ankara on Wednesday, Erdogan, who once <a href="https://www.aei.org/op-eds/erdogan-projects-his-own-genocidal-intent-onto-netanyahu/">said</a>, “A Muslim could not commit genocide; he is not capable of it,” <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/12/27/turkeys-erdogan-says-netanyahu-no-different-than-hitler-as-gaza-is-bombed" target="_blank" rel="noopener">declared</a>, “They used to speak ill of Hitler. What difference do you have from Hitler? They are going to make us miss Hitler. Is what this Netanyahu is doing any less than what Hitler did? It is not.”
That catalyzed this response from Netanyahu: “Erdogan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach morality to us. The IDF, which is the most moral army in the world, is fighting to eliminate the most abhorrent and brutal terrorist organization in the world, Hamas-ISIS, which has committed crimes against humanity, and which Erdogan has praised and whose leaders he hosts.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Erdogan, who is committing genocide against the Kurds and who holds the world record for imprisoning journalists who oppose his regime, is the last person who can preach morality to us.
The IDF, which is the most moral army in the world, is fighting to eliminate the most…
&mdash; Benjamin Netanyahu &#8211; בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) <a href="https://twitter.com/netanyahu/status/1740039502423265747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
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Israeli President Yitzchak Herzog added, “I strongly condemn and utterly reject the words of Turkish President Erdogan. In all of human history, the Holocaust stands alone in its horror and enormity, and his words are deeply offensive to every Jew around the world, and to the memory of the millions of Jews who perished at the hands of the Nazis. The command ‘Never Again’ remains an imperative for the State of Israel — the nation state of the Jewish people — which is committed to the safety and protection of every Jew. There is no struggle more just than the war against the terrorist organization Hamas, which brutally and barbarically murdered Jews, as well as Muslims, and those of other faiths and nationalities.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
I strongly condemn and utterly reject the words of Turkish President Erdogan.
In all of human history, the Holocaust stands alone in its horror and enormity, and his words are deeply offensive to every Jew around the world, and to the memory of the millions of Jews who perished…
&mdash; יצחק הרצוג Isaac Herzog (@Isaac_Herzog) <a href="https://twitter.com/Isaac_Herzog/status/1740050924037460046?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon also had a few words:
<blockquote>
It would be prudent that a leader of a country that committed a heinous genocide against the Armenian people refrain from preaching morality to others. Erdogan has made himself the representative of the Hamas terror organization in Turkey and his statements are entirely disconnected from reality. I would suggest that he stop spouting his hollow slogans and instead show the world how much he actually cares by announcing a concrete number of Gazan families that he is willing to assist by accepting them into his country.
</blockquote>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
It would be prudent that a leader of a country that committed a heinous genocide against the Armenian people refrain from preaching morality to others. Erdogan has made himself the representative of the Hamas terror organization in Turkey and his statements are entirely… <a href="https://t.co/Cmz8H1d0rL">pic.twitter.com/Cmz8H1d0rL</a>
&mdash; Danny Danon 🇮🇱 דני דנון (@dannydanon) <a href="https://twitter.com/dannydanon/status/1740020535654801640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 27, 2023</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Comparing Israel’s surgical actions in Gaza to the mass genocide perpetrated by Hitler is ludicrous; Hitler led a movement to exterminate all of the Jews in Europe, eventually killing six million of them, including one million children. The Nazis went so far as to claim anyone with any trace of Jewish blood be exterminated, a sentiment regarding killing all Jews that has been <a href="https://www.algemeiner.com/2023/11/21/hamas-threats-to-cut-off-heads-slit-throats-and-slaughter-every-jew-on-the-planet-were-ignored-in-2019/">echoed</a> by the terrorist group Hamas.
Meanwhile, Israel has lost <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2023-12-27/ty-article/idf-officer-two-soldiers-killed-in-gaza-fighting/0000018c-a9d9-dbb4-af9f-edf9d3d90000">498 soldiers</a> since the October 7 massacre, a figure roughly equivalent to the United States losing 17,000 soldiers. The Israelis, rather than truly committing genocide by decimating Gaza from the air, have sent their soldiers at the risk of their lives into Gaza to reduce the loss of civilian life.

Bibi

Erdogan Compares Netanyahu To Hitler. Bibi, Other Israeli Officials Strike Back.

After Turkish leadership warned that they would crack down on online “disinformation,” several Turkish YouTubers were arrested for interviewing their fellow citizens about the nation’s currency crisis.
Since this time last year, the Turkish lira has lost 50% of its value against the dollar amid policymakers’ unorthodox monetary policies — meaning that citizens are dealing with diminishing purchasing power and widespread price uncertainty.
<a href="https://www.insider.com/turkey-arrests-youtubers-who-ask-the-public-about-finances-2021-12">Business Insider</a> reported:
<blockquote>YouTuber Hasan Köksoy, who runs the YouTube channel Kendine Muhabir (which translates to Self Correspondent), said in a tweet translated to English that he was taken out of his bed &#8220;like a terrorist&#8221; and arrested &#8220;for handing a microphone to the public.&#8221;
Arif Kocabıyık and Turan Kural were also arrested, according to the local news outlet Turkey Purge, which monitors human rights abuses in the country. On their respective YouTube channels, the men have been interviewing people about the nation&#8217;s economy and its impact on their finances. A fourth YouTuber, Mehmet Koyuncu, tweeted that he was not arrested but that police contacted him. 
Turkey Purge reported the YouTubers were accused of &#8220;denigrating the state and government.&#8221;</blockquote>
The arrests follow Turkish leaders’ warnings about crackdowns on social media usage. Business Insider added:
<blockquote>In a recent speech, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan called social media one of the &#8220;main sources of threats to today&#8217;s democracy&#8221; and said he would be cracking down on internet media to &#8220;fight disinformation and propaganda,&#8221; with sentences of up to five years in prison, Al Jazeera reported.
Critics say this could tighten restrictions on free speech. Human rights organization Freedom House&#8217;s 2021 Freedom on the Net report, which analyzes internet freedom worldwide, labeled Turkey as &#8220;not free,&#8221; noting widespread filtering or removal of online content that was critical of the government. 
According to the Stockholm Center for Press Freedom, 72 journalists are currently in prison in Turkey and 89 are awaiting trial.</blockquote>
Erdogan’s crackdown on “disinformation” mirrors the policy of other repressive regimes across the world.
After widespread anti-government protests in Cuba, the island’s communist government <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/cuba-passes-misinformation-law-calling-online-criticism-of-the-government-cyberterrorism">passed</a> legislation treating “misinformation” as “cyberterrorism.” Citizens had been uploading photos and videos of the protests to social media, drawing international attention to the government’s repressive policies. 
Last year, the Chinese Communist Party <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/citing-ccp-influence-biden-warns-americans-about-doing-business-in-hong-kong">enacted</a> the “Hong Kong National Security Law” — which, according to the Biden administration, tightened penalties for “secession” and “subversion.” Despite widespread protests that garnered international attention, the law gutted individual rights for citizens of Hong Kong — and led the Biden administration to warn about the “growing risks” of conducting business in the city.
The Biden administration itself, however, is <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/alarmed-and-suspicious-senators-tell-biden-to-explain-crackdown-on-misinformation">engaging</a> in censorship. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said earlier this year that users “shouldn’t be banned from one platform and not others” if they post “misinformation online.” She also revealed that the Biden administration is “flagging problematic posts for Facebook that spread disinformation.”
President Biden also <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/biden-says-these-12-people-are-responsible-for-most-covid-misinformation-never-says-who-they-are">alleged</a> that Facebook is “killing people” by allowing a particular group of users to spread their views about COVID-19.
“These twelve people are out there giving misinformation. Anyone listening to it is getting hurt by it. It’s killing people. It’s bad information,” Biden said. “My hope is that Facebook, instead of taking it personally, that somehow I’m saying Facebook is killing people, that they would do something about the misinformation, the outrageous misinformation about the vaccine.”

Erdogan in Russia

Turkish YouTubers Arrested For Speaking About Rampant Inflation As Nation Cracks Down On ‘Disinformation’

In a call with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday, President Joe Biden told the Turkish leader that he plans to recognize the mass killing and displacement of more than 1.5 million Armenians that occurred over a hundred years ago as genocide, according to a report from <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">Bloomberg</a>.
The White House did not discuss the topic of Biden’s potential declaration in a statement regarding Biden’s first call of his term with Erdoğan. The White House <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">said</a> that Biden told the Turkish president that he is interested in a “constructive bilateral relationship with expanded areas of cooperation and effective management of disagreements.”
<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/23/world/europe/armenia-genocide-turkey-biden.html">The New York Times</a> reported that Biden is set to make the official declaration on Saturday, likely upsetting Turkish leaders like Erdoğan who have pushed back on using the term “genocide” to describe what happened to the Armenians. On Wednesday, <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-poised-to-recognize-armenian-massacres-as-genocide-officials-say-11619048891">The Wall Street Journal</a> reported that officials said Biden is expected to describe the deportation, starvation, and massacres of Armenians at the hands of the Ottoman Turks beginning in 1915 as genocide.
In early 2019, Erdoğan <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-23/biden-tells-erdogan-he-will-call-armenian-massacre-a-genocide">reportedly</a> said in a Twitter post that “the relocation of the Armenian gangs and their supporters, who massacred the Muslim people, including women and children, in eastern Anatolia, was the most reasonable action that could be taken in such a period.”
Erdoğan said in a statement Thursday that Turkey &#8220;will continue to defend truths against the so-called Armenian genocide lie and those who support this slander with political motivations,&#8221; <a href="https://www.npr.org/2021/04/23/989915018/what-it-means-for-the-u-s-to-call-the-atrocities-against-armenians-genocide">NPR</a> reported.
<a href="https://cqrcengage.com/aaainc/genocide">The Armenian Assembly of America</a> states that April 24th is the day that the Armenian Genocide is commemorated around the globe. The group includes the importance of acknowledging the massacre as genocide on their website, writing, “Unequivocally affirming the Armenian Genocide would honor the more than 1.5 million Armenians who were massacred. It would also serve to remember this proud chapter in America&#8217;s history of helping to save the survivors. We must remember atrocities to prevent them from occurring again.”
According to the online <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Armenian-Genocide">Encyclopedia Brittanica</a>, the Armenian Genocide refers to the efforts to deport and kill massive numbers of Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I (between 1914 and 1918). Armenians claim that the campaign was a deliberate venture to destroy the Armenian people and, therefore, was an act of genocide. However, the Turkish government has pushed back on calls to recognize the events in those terms. It has conceded that atrocities occurred, but there was no official extermination policy that was carried out against the Armenians as a unit.
President Reagan was the only president to speak of the devastating events as genocide in a declaration remembering the horrors of the Holocaust. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan <a href="https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/proclamations-april-22-1981">stated</a>, “Like the genocide of the Armenians before it, and the genocide of the Cambodians which followed it — and like too many other such persecutions of too many other peoples — the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.” Many of Reagan’s successors have made claims that they would recognize the Armenian genocide when they are elected, but none have officially done so. On April 24, presidents have released statements commemorating the day of remembrance, but none since have referred to it as “genocide.”
As reported by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-poised-to-recognize-armenian-massacres-as-genocide-officials-say-11619048891">The Wall Street Journal</a>, at the end of his presidential campaign, Biden’s campaign said that he would “recognize the Armenian genocide and make universal human rights a top priority for his administration so that such a tragedy can never again occur.”
On Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day last year, Biden put out a <a href="https://medium.com/@JoeBiden/statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-genocide-remembrance-day-78500cb4dd1c">statement</a> regarding the commemoration of the tragedy.
Biden <a href="https://medium.com/@JoeBiden/statement-by-vice-president-joe-biden-on-armenian-genocide-remembrance-day-78500cb4dd1c">stated</a>, “Today we remember the atrocities faced by the Armenian people in the Metz Yeghern — the Armenian Genocide…We must never forget or remain silent about this horrific and systematic campaign of extermination. And we will forever respect the perseverance of the Armenian people in the wake of such tragedy.”
His statement continued, “It is particularly important to speak these words and commemorate this history at a moment when we are reminded daily of the power of truth, and of our shared responsibility to stand against hate — because silence is complicity. If we do not fully acknowledge, commemorate, and teach our children about genocide, the words ‘never again’ lose their meaning. The facts must be as clear and as powerful for future generations as for those whose memories are seared by tragedy. Failing to remember or acknowledge the fact of a genocide only paves the way for future mass atrocities.”

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Report: Biden Tells Turkish President Erdogan He Will Recognize Armenian Genocide

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