15 Facts About Hasan Turkmani

Hasan Ali Turkmani was a Syrian military officer and politician who served as Syria's Minister of Defense from 2004 to 2009.

Hasan Turkmani was among four top Syrian government officials killed in a bombing in Damascus on 18 July 2012.

Hasan Turkmani was born in Aleppo in 1935 into a Syrian Sunni Muslim family of Turkmen origin.

Hasan Turkmani was one of the first officers to graduate on the new mechanized units of the BMP-1 and BTR-60 armoured vehicles.

Hasan Turkmani completed a staff course for combined arms operations from East Germany in 1965, and a Command and Staff Course from Egypt in 1969.

Hasan Turkmani commanded the 9th Mechanized Infantry Division which fought a crucial rearguard action around Damascus in 1973.

Hasan Turkmani was promoted to the rank of major general in 1975.

Hasan Turkmani began to serve as a member of the central committee of the Baath Party beginning in 2000.

Hasan Turkmani was the deputy chief of staff in the Syrian army until 2002.

Hasan Turkmani was appointed chief of staff on 23 January 2002, replacing Ali Aslan.

In June 2006, Hasan Turkmani visited Tehran and signed a strategic alliance agreement with his Iranian counterpart Mustafa Mohammad Najjar to form a joint defense committee.

Hasan Turkmani was replaced in June 2009 by the former army chief Ali Habib Mahmud as defense minister.

Hasan Turkmani was appointed chief of crisis operations and was widely blamed for the campaign of torture in Syria.

On 15 June 2011, Hasan Turkmani said that they would discuss relations between Turkey and Syria, congratulate Erdogan on his election victory and thank him welcoming Syrian refugees into the country.

Hasan Turkmani was assassinated on 18 July 2012 in a bombing by opposition militants on a meeting of the Central Crisis Management Cell at the national security building in Rawda Square, north-west Damascus, where the minister of defense Dawoud Rajiha, his deputy Assef Shawkat and other top officials were killed.