After Turkey has spent 75 years attempting to join the West, and having been spurned by the European Union, they appear to have little choice but to attempt to rejoin the Islamic Middle East. The strategic implications are immense and are destined to dramatically affect the balance of power in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.
Turkey is currently a NATO member (with an active army of over 500,000 and 950,000 in reserves) and, with 63 million, is the second most populous state in the Middle East.
Tensions with Syria
Kurdish guerrillas (PKK), with ostensible support from Syria, continue to challenge Turkey's control of the Hatay province. Abdullah Ocalan, the PKK leader, has been able to operate from the Bekaa Valley in Syrian-controlled Lebanon.
(Present-day Hatay was the former Syrian province of Alexandretta, which was given to Turkey by France in 1940 as a bribe to insure that Turkey would not join on Germany's side in World War II.)
The tensions between Turkey and Syria continue to intensify over the control of Hatay and over the control of the waters of the Euphrates River. These disputes have, so far, prevented Turkey from joining the Iran-Syrian alliance in their attempt to forge an "Islamic Crescent."
Future Power Struggle
Turkey, too, is entering the contest to "liberate" Jerusalem. An Islamic Turkey seems destined to engage in a three-way power struggle with the Middle East's other two most populous states: Iran, with 64 million, and Egypt, with 62 million.
Presently, Iran is clearly the strongest and growing. Iran is also the lead ally listed in Ezekiel 38, which we believe is on the near horizon. Meshech and Tubal (Turkey) are allies with Iran and Magog (Russia) in this ill-fated invasion.
Egypt, however, while noticeably absent from the Ezekiel account, is the initiator (as King of the South) of the scenario in Daniel 11, which appears to be the Armageddon sequence. We believe this climatic engagement is substantially subsequent to Ezekiel 38 and 39.
Keep and eye on the events presently unfolding in the Middle East and, meanwhile, do your homework: learn what the Bible details about these forthcoming events. Film at eleven.
