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A-O Special Coverage:

 

 

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Turkey in Crisis

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Military Coup Foiled

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An attempted military coup plot by Turkey's top military officers has been exposed leading to the arrest of dozens of current and former Turkish military officers. As a result, Turkey's once-powerful military elite is scrambling to avoid charges of treason and potential death sentences.

A former deputy chief of the army, a retired air force chief, the chief of the navy and several generals and admirals were among those detained by police in a sweep carried out in eight Turkish cities. The Turkish news agency, Hurriyet, reported on its website that the round-up included 17 retired generals, four serving admirals and 27 lower-ranking officers.

The allegations of a coup have dramatically brought two power blocs in Turkey to the point of legal confrontation. The Turkish military leaders have consistently supported and defended the secular Turkish Constitution which separates religion from government. The military has been a blocking agent preventing radical Islamic fundamentalists from seizing total control of the government and turning Turkey into another Iran. At the moment, the ruling party, the AKP has held a platform seeking to establish an Islamic Republic much like the one in Iran only in a Sunni-sect Islamic society.

The Turkish military has consistently blocked Islamic fundamentalists from transforming the nation into a radical, Islamic state. In fact, the Turkish military officer corp had been promoting a casual alliance with Israel as well as keeping Turkey as a member of NATO and trying to garner EU membership. In the past 5 years, as Turkey's top military leaders retire, they have been replaced by younger officers who are more favorably disposed to radical Islamic ideals and an opposition to Israel and NATO. On the other hand, the civilian government is now filled with politicians who support an Islamic government. The current leadership has begun developing an economic and military relationship with Iran and Syria while at the same time challenging Israel and its policies towards the Gaza Palestinians.

The Turkish civilian government was a primary mover in getting the UN to consider 'war crimes' against Israel for the Israeli military clash in Gaza in January of 2009. The government is now moving to challenge Israel's naval blockade of the Gaza Strip. The government is planning to send a 20 ship flotilla of ships loaded with humanitarian aid for Gaza. It will attempt to break through and past Israeli warships patrolling the Gazx coastline to unload food, medical supplies and consumer goods for Palestinian civilians. This could very well set up a major diplomatic and military confrontation with Israel in April.

Some geo-political analysts who specialize in Turkish politics believe that the foiled coup has the potential to trigger a civil war in Turkey that leads to the break up of that nation, much like what happened to Yugoslavia and the Balkans region in which several independent, small nation-states might emerge in what is now modern-day Turkey.



Biblical Prophecy Implications:


The area known today as Turkey is mentioned in Ezekiel's Magog War prophecies of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39.

And the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

 2Son of man, set thy face against Gog, the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal, and prophesy against him,

 3And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:

 4And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords:

 5Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

 6Gomer, and all his bands; the house of Togarmah of the north quarters, and all his bands: and many people with thee.


The key terms we want to note here are found in verse 2 - which are "Meshech" and "Tubal" plus another key name being "Gomer" in verse 6. Meschech and Tubal are names associated with the area known as "Asia Minor," which is today known as Turkey. Prophecy author and Dallas Theological Seminary professor, Dr. Mark Hitchcock notes:- "they occupied territory that is presently in the modern nation of Turkey." (Iran The Coming Crisis:Radical Islam, Oil, And The Nuclear Threat (Sisters, OR: Multnomah, 2006), p. 184)

Many scholars concur and it has long been traditionaly held - although some commentators such as Hal Lindsey have claimed Meschech is Moscow because there is similar phonetic sound between the two. This seems to us to be a very lame attempt to link the name to Moscow much as it is lame to think the Hebrew term "Rosh" (which means "leader" in Hebrew) is a reference to the nation of Russia.

As for Gomer, it has traditionally been viewed as the western part of Turkey. All commentators seem to be in agreement on this. So either way you look at the first two terms, Gomer makes it quite clear that modern-day Turkey is most likely involevd in Ezekiel's prophecy, unless of course, Turkey collapses and new, nation-states emerge in the very near future.

It is beyond the scope of this article to deeply delve into the various arguments for the identity of Magog, Meschech, Tubal and others named in Ezekiel's prophecy. The point of this article is to note that Turkey is one of the nation-players in the prophecy and the current political turmoil in Turkey underscores how that nation is rapidly transforming itself into an enemy of Israel in order to come into compliance with Biblical Prophecy.

For more on the current news about the failed military coup plot in Turkey, - LINK HERE.

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Turkey's army has warned of a "serious" situation after 40 senior military figures were arrested over an alleged plot to topple the government.

All top generals and admirals met at the military headquarters to evaluate the investigation, the military said.

Police were questioning the suspects over the so-called "sledgehammer" plot which reportedly dates back to 2003.

Former heads of the air force and navy were among those detained in raids in Istanbul, Ankara and Izmir.

The men arrested include the former air force chief Ibrahim Firtina, former navy chief Ozden Ornek, and several other generals and colonels, both serving and retired, Turkish media outlets reported.

General Ilker Basbug, the head of the army, dismissed the allegations, insisting coups in Turkey are a thing of the past.

The army has overthrown or forced the resignation of four governments since 1960 - the last time in 1997.


Moer details, LINK HERE.

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