Former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton waded into troubled US-Turkey relations when she and her daughter Chelsea announced last week that they had acquired the rights to produce a television series based on a forthcoming book about Syrian Kurdish women fighters.
Written by bestselling American journalist Gayle Tzemach Lemmon, The Daughters of Kobani is to be released on February 16 and will recount the Kurdish-led People's Protection Units' (YPG) 2014 defence of the border city of Kobani from an ISIS assault and early days as the main local fighting force in the US-led coalition to defeat ISIS.
Turkey views the YPG as part of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, which has led an armed insurgency in the country’s south-east for decades and is labelled a terrorist group by the US and EU. Ankara's state-run news agency expressed fears that the Clintons’ series would “whitewash” terrorists as freedom fighters.
Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan chairs a security meeting in Ankara on January 23, 2018, that was attended by Adnan Tanriverdi, second from right. Kayhan Ozer / Presidential Palace via Reuters
That's rich coming from a government that is widely thought to have enabled ISIS' rise and which has in recent years developed a vast network of problematic proxies doing its bidding from Turkey to western Europe, from the Caucasus to the Middle East and beyond.
As detailed in a new report from the Jerusalem Institute for Strategy and Security and Trends Research and Advisory in Abu Dhabi, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sought to fill the regional vacuum and remake Turkey as a dominant force with the help of a variety of militant groups, defence contractors and rogue actors.
“Erdogan now has a private military and paramilitary system at his disposal. He deploys this apparatus for domestic and foreign operations without official oversight,” write co-authors Hay Eytan Cohen Yanarocak and Jonathan Spyer. They add that these groups “serve an Islamist, neo-Ottoman [and once again, anti-Kurdish] agenda".
Turkey's most prominent use of proxies has been in the Libyan and Syrian civil wars and in the recent conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. In all three cases Ankara hired thousands of anti-Assad regime rebels to fight for its cause, many linked to the Muslim Brotherhood or other radical Islamists. In north-eastern Syria, Turkey-backed fighters have been accused of ethnic cleansing and war crimes, such as roadside executions.
Another key element in Mr Erdogan's empire is Turkish defence contractor Sadat, which was founded in 2012 by Islamist former brigadier general Adnan Tanriverdi and provides military training for special police units, Mr Erdogan's presidential guards and Turkey's recently created neighbourhood watchmen. Israel has accused Sadat of transferring millions of dollars in funding for Hamas, labelled a terrorist group by the US and EU.
Shadi Ghanim's take on the influx of foreign fighters in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict
Grey Wolves' main task is to counter perceived threats to the state
With Mr Tanriverdi's late 2019 departure as presidential adviser, Sadat is now unaffiliated with the state, providing deniability. According to Yanarocak and Spyer, Sadat helped recruit and deploy Syrian fighters in Libya and Nagorno-Karabakh, and has ties with Al Qaeda-linked Hayat Tahrir Al Sham, as do Turkey's intelligence agency and its main relief organisation, IHH. In a late 2015 interview, Mr Tanriverdi provided the rough outlines for Turkey's 2016 and 2019 military operations in Syria's north-east, revealing his likely involvement in top-level military matters.
The report overlooks at least two of Mr Erdogan's tools of power projection: the army of Turkish imams across Europe who keep an eye out for dissidents and promote an Islamic nationalist message to the five-million-strong Turkish diaspora and other Muslim groups; and the powerful Turkish drones that have played a crucial role in projecting Turkish power and backing Ankara's agenda in Syria, Libya, Nagorno-Karabakh, northern Iraq and even the eastern Mediterranean.
Tracing the origins of Turkey's embrace of deniable, non-state actors to the "deep state" concept that took root in the turbulent 1960s and 70s, the JISS-Trends report does however highlight the Grey Wolves, founded in 1965 as the youth wing of the far-right National Movement Party (MHP). Its ideology is a Turkish-Islamic worldview that sees the Republic as sacred, and its main task is to counter perceived threats to the state, primarily communist elements and leftist Kurdish separatists.
The 'Grey Wolves' during an election rally of Turkey's Nationalist Action Party in Ankara in 2015. AFP
After the 1980 coup, some Grey Wolves were incorporated into a deep state special operations unit, given broader military training and assigned to covert missions against Armenian militants in Europe and Kurdish activists within Turkey. Grey Wolf Mehmet Ali Agca murdered well-known Turkish journalist and activist Abdi Ipekci in 1979 and two years later tried to assassinate Pope John Paul II.
In 1997, Turkey’s National Security Council labelled the Grey Wolves a potential threat to national security. Yet rather than outlaw the group, Turkey continued to quietly use them, mostly abroad. Grey Wolves fought with the Muslim Chechens against Russia until 2000, then just over a decade later they fought with Syrian Turkmen, in line with Turkey’s efforts to oust Syrian President Bashar Al Assad.
"Recruitment was public via the Turkish propaganda machine at home, especially via pro-government newspapers such as Yeni Safak and Star," write Yanarocak and Spyer, adding that it was a Grey Wolf who killed the Russian pilot shot down by a Turkish F-16 in November 2015. "Ankara's open support for the Grey Wolves means that the organisation is evolving from a marginal, radical, rightist group into one embraced by the Turkish state."
That alignment has grown in recent years due to the ruling Justice and Development Party's (AKP) parliamentary alliance with the MHP. This can be seen in the increasingly brazen acts of Grey Wolves members in Europe.
US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, which include YPG and YPJ units, battled ISIS with great success in Syria's north-east. AFP
'The Daughters of Kobani: A Story of Rebellion, Courage and Justice'. Courtesy Penguin Press
Turkey's partners surely seem less appetising than America's
Last June, Grey Wolves attacked the Vienna rally of a Kurdish organisation looking to raise awareness about violence against women in Turkey. The next month a group of Grey Wolves interrupted an Armenian rally in eastern France and their leader declared: “Let the Turkish government give me 2,000 euros and a weapon, and I will do what needs to be done, wherever in France.” A few months later, during the Azerbaijan-Armenia conflict, Grey Wolves vandalised the Armenian genocide monument in Lyon.
That last assault prompted France to ban the group, and German lawmakers were soon calling for a similar ban, which could spur Austria to do the same. An estimated 11,000 Grey Wolves live in Germany, and prominent Turkish dissidents in exile there, such as journalist Can Dundar, have expressed fears that the Turkish government may use them for assassinations.
Turkey's partners surely seem less appetising than America's. For helping defeat ISIS, the women guerrillas of YPJ have been hailed as heroes on the cover of Time magazine, Marie Claire and Der Spiegel. Lemmon's book reportedly sparked a bidding war for the television rights, won by the deep pockets of the Clintons' HiddenLight Productions.
I can’t imagine a Netflix series on the Grey Wolves or rebel Syrian extremists generating the same sort of buzz. But that doesn’t mean the world should not be paying close attention to Turkey’s problematic proxies..
David Lepeska is a Turkish and Eastern Mediterranean affairs columnist for The National
Twelve books were longlisted for The Orwell Prize for Political Writing. The non-fiction works cover various themes from education, gender bias, and the environment to surveillance and political power. Some of the books that made it to the non-fiction longlist include:
Appeasing Hitler: Chamberlain, Churchill and the Road to War by Tim Bouverie
Some Kids I Taught and What They Taught Me by Kate Clanchy
Invisible Women: Exposing Data Bias in a World Designed for Men by Caroline Criado Perez
Follow Me, Akhi: The Online World of British Muslims by Hussein Kesvani
Guest House for Young Widows: Among the Women of ISIS by Azadeh Moaveni
Indoor Cricket World Cup - Sep 16-20, Insportz, Dubai
16 Indoor cricket matches are 16 overs per side
8 There are eight players per team
9 There have been nine Indoor Cricket World Cups for men. Australia have won every one.
5 Five runs are deducted from the score when a wickets falls
4 Batsmen bat in pairs, facing four overs per partnership
Scoring In indoor cricket, runs are scored by way of both physical and bonus runs. Physical runs are scored by both batsmen completing a run from one crease to the other. Bonus runs are scored when the ball hits a net in different zones, but only when at least one physical run is score.
Zones
A Front net, behind the striker and wicketkeeper: 0 runs
B Side nets, between the striker and halfway down the pitch: 1 run
C Side nets between halfway and the bowlers end: 2 runs
D Back net: 4 runs on the bounce, 6 runs on the full
No more lice
Defining head lice
Pediculus humanus capitis are tiny wingless insects that feed on blood from the human scalp. The adult head louse is up to 3mm long, has six legs, and is tan to greyish-white in colour. The female lives up to four weeks and, once mature, can lay up to 10 eggs per day. These tiny nits firmly attach to the base of the hair shaft, get incubated by body heat and hatch in eight days or so.
Identifying lice
Lice can be identified by itching or a tickling sensation of something moving within the hair. One can confirm that a person has lice by looking closely through the hair and scalp for nits, nymphs or lice. Head lice are most frequently located behind the ears and near the neckline.
Treating lice at home
Head lice must be treated as soon as they are spotted. Start by checking everyone in the family for them, then follow these steps. Remove and wash all clothing and bedding with hot water. Apply medicine according to the label instructions. If some live lice are still found eight to 12 hours after treatment, but are moving more slowly than before, do not re-treat. Comb dead and remaining live lice out of the hair using a fine-toothed comb.
After the initial treatment, check for, comb and remove nits and lice from hair every two to three days. Soak combs and brushes in hot water for 10 minutes.Vacuum the floor and furniture, particularly where the infested person sat or lay.
Courtesy Dr Vishal Rajmal Mehta, specialist paediatrics, RAK Hospital
L - Juventus, 2-0 D - C Palace, 2-2 W - N Forest, 3-0 L - Liverpool, 2-0 D - Feyenoord, 3-3 L - Tottenham, 4-0 L - Brighton, 2-1 L - Sporting, 4-1 L - Bournemouth, 2-1 L - Tottenham, 2-1
Other shows filmed in Ireland include: Vikings (County Wicklow), The Fall (Belfast), Line of Duty (Belfast), Penny Dreadful (Dublin), Ripper Street (Dublin), Krypton (Belfast)
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
