Category: 2021

As Israel’s acute shortage of high-tech workers deepens, the country’s outsourcing high-tech human resource operation, Webiz, is now expanding its operations to Armenia.

In September, the Israeli-founded company announced that the establishment of its recruitment and training center for technological personnel in Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, had yielded positions in leading Israeli high-tech firms for some 200 Georgians.

Webiz is currently completing the establishment of its branch in the Armenian capital, Yerevan, and opened a local Webiz Academy. The company has hired local managers, including Ashot Pashinyan, son of Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, who will serve as Talent Acquisition Manager. An Israeli team will manage the Armenian branch.

Armenia’s high-tech industry grew by approximately 21 percent in 2014-2017, with more than 400 IT companies operating in the country, employing around 15,000 professionals. Armenia is rapidly changing the face of the industry, providing outsourcing services to the innovation-based industry. Half of the country’s revenues now come from local R&D products and services. In addition, 200 foreign companies operate in the country, and the government encourages the entry of more companies, offering tax breaks, light regulation, openness, and friendly bureaucratic processes.

“Demand for the workers we recruit has skyrocketed,” noted Webiz co-founder and CEO, Eyal Bar-Oz noted. “In practice, every worker who completes the training course is headhunted by Israeli companies. The new branch in Armenia will help us deal with the surging demand, especially in disciplines such as Cyber, Big Data, and AI – all areas in which Armenia is developing an excellent track record for success. Our target is to recruit 100 to 200 programmers by the end of 2022,” he added.

Bar-Oz, Meni Benish and David Zerach, all serial entrepreneurs and angel investors founded Webiz in 2018. The company’s technology personnel recruitment and training centers offer comprehensive training programs, based on an Israeli syllabus. The company recruits both developers from its training programs and senior developers.

Webiz’s business model is based on providing a one-stop-shop for technology companies, with services focused on securing seed investment, product design, development project management, marketing, and business development. Webiz currently enables new startups to consume development services in exchange for equity.

Ali Haydar Kaytan, one of the founders of the PKK terrorist organization and seen as a possible successor of jailed PKK leader Abdullah Öcalan, was killed in 2019 in a joint operation by the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) and National Intelligence Organization (MIT), security sources said Thursday. Sources indicated that the PKK didn’t reveal Kaytan’s death to avoid lowering the morale of its terrorists, who have taken significant blows in recent years due to drone-supported operations within Turkey and neighboring countries.

The reports noted that the PKK terrorists who buried Kaytan in an unknown place were executed by PKK leadership. Kaytan’s death caused a rift between PKK leaders Cemil Bayık and Murat Karayılan. Bayık criticized the organization for being imprudent, while Karayılan accused Bayık of staying in Qandil Mountains and abandoning PKK to its fate.

Kaytan is one of the six founders of the PKK, together with Öcalan, and described him as “the authority after me.” He is also a member of the so-called executive council of the Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), which serves as an umbrella body of the PKK and its affiliates in different countries.

He was directly responsible for two major terrorist attacks on civilians in Ankara. During the first attack, 29 people were killed when a suicide bomber blew up his bomb-laden car next to shuttle buses carrying soldiers and civilians on Ankara’s Merasim Street on Feb. 17, 2016, during the evening rush hour. The second attack was carried out at the Ankara central Kızılay square when PKK terrorists attacked bus stops using a bomb-laden car. Thirty-six people were killed and 125 others were injured in the attack. He is also known to be the second ideological mentor of the PKK, following Öcalan, who was responsible for the training and motivation of suicide bombers.

During the Sept. 12, 1980, military coup, Kaytan fled abroad, seeking asylum from Germany and France. Even though he was sentenced to seven years in prison in Germany on murder and kidnapping charges, Kaytan was released and fled to Lebanon to train new PKK members with Öcalan.

Determined to curb terrorism at its source, Turkey is throttling the terrorist group in northern Iraq. The TSK and the MIT, which eliminated the so-called ringleaders of the PKK in their terrorist dens, have already caused the psychological collapse of the group. In the last two years, the operations intensifying in northern Iraq have demolished the terrorist dens in Metina, Avashin-Basyan, Zap and Gara. After destroying the organization’s influence in these regions, Turkey now aims to clear Qandil, Sinjar and Makhmour – described as the “main target” – of terrorism.

The PKK terrorist group often hides out in northern Iraq, just across Turkey’s southern border, to plot terrorist attacks in Turkey. The Turkish military regularly conducts cross-border operations in northern Iraq. Turkey has long been stressing that it will not tolerate terrorist threats posed against its national security and has called on Iraqi officials to take the necessary steps to eliminate the terrorist group. Ankara previously noted that if the expected steps were not taken, it would not shy away from targeting terrorist threats.

The Qandil Mountains in northern Iraq are the PKK’s stronghold and the group is active in many cities and towns. It occupies a large number of villages in the region from where it launches attacks on Turkey. Turkish intelligence learned that the Makhmour camp was as important as Qandil for the terrorists as they were able to recruit and train members under its guise.

United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Israel-based, state-owned weapons makers signed a strategic agreement in Dubai on Thursday to jointly design and produce unmanned vessels capable of carrying out anti-submarine warfare.

Emirati defense conglomerate EDGE and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) announced the partnership on the final day of the biennial Dubai Airshow.

In a joint statement, the firms said they would design the “170 M” advanced modular unmanned service vessels that would be able to be used for both military and commercial purposes.

The deal comes after the UAE and Israel last year established diplomatic ties under a deal where the United States also agreed to sell F-35 warplanes to Abu Dhabi.

Aerospace and defense company IAI in March said it would jointly develop an advanced drone defense system with EDGE.

The Emirati-Israeli unmanned vessels would be able to operate semi- and fully autonomously and carry out missions including submarine detection and anti-submarine warfare.

“These developments will open many doors for us in local and global markets, military and commercial alike,” EDGE Chief Executive Faisal Al Bannai said in the statement.

It would also be able be used for intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, mine detection and sweeping, and as a deployment platform for certain types of aircraft.

Commercially, it would be able to be customized for oil and gas exploration among several other capabilities.

Abu Dhabi Ship Building (ADSB) will design the platform and integrate the control systems and payload, while IAI will develop the autonomous control system and integrate payloads to it.

The statement did not say how much capital had been committed to the project, or when it would enter production.

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan discussed Turkey-Niger ties with President Mohamed Bazoum in a phone call on Thursday, a statement by the Presidential Communications Directorate said.

Noting that Turkey values its relations with Niger, Erdoğan said he believes the country will continue to cooperate in the fight against the Gülenist Terror Group (FETÖ).

Erdoğan also extended condolences to Bazum over the deadly attacks that took place on Tuesday, adding that Turkey supports the country’s fight against terrorism.

Regarding Niger’s defense purchases from Turkey, including the Bayraktar TB2 armed drone, Hürkuş-C armed close air support and training aircraft and armored vehicles, Erdoğan said he believes they will enhance the security capacity of Niger’s military and police forces.

Turkey established diplomatic relations with Niger in 1967 and opened its first embassy in the country in 2012. The Turkish Cooperation and Coordination Agency (TIKA) provides technical assistance programs for Niger and is involved in several projects in schools, clinics, parks and orphanages.