TURKEY - Muslim World Unites Against Israel
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi over the phone that the “Islamic world should be united against Israel’s attacks in Palestine,” Turkish media reported.
The two world leaders also discussed the incidents at the al-Aqsa mosque and Iranian-Turkish relations, the report said. The Turkish president also noted the importance to preserve the status of holy areas and emphasized “reasonable thinking” in order to prevent further escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian territories, sources said.
Israeli foreign minister Eli Cohen then told his Turkish counterpart Mevlut Cavusoglu the same day that the IDF will respond to any attempt to terrorize civilians. The incident came during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan and on the eve of the Jewish Passover.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan posed for a picture before a meeting of leaders from the three guarantor states of the Astana process, designed to find a peace settlement in Syria crisis, in Tehran, Iran July 19, 2022.
-www.jpost.com, 7 April 2023
Arno's Commentary
Turkey continues to garner world headlines, primarily due to the strongman leader Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has been president of Turkey since 2014. The nation joined the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in 1952. Turkey has a deciding voice regarding if and when Sweden can join NATO.
The CIA Factbook states that 99.8% of Turkey’s citizens are Sunni Muslim. It has a population of more than 83 million and a per capita GDP of $31,500 (2021). Turkey is a country that straddles Europe and Asia. Negotiations to join the EU have stalled, mainly due to Turkey’s poor human rights record and deficiencies in rule of law. Europeans in general do not see Turkey as a European state.
For Israel, Turkish leverage in Syria’s war is noteworthy. While Turkey was the first Muslim country to recognize the state of Israel in 1949, the relationship has been difficult.
When reading the Bible, we note in the book of Revelation the message to the seven churches in Asia Minor. Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamon, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea are all located in the western half of Turkey. Thus, we see a shadow of things to come, originating geographically not from Israel but from Turkey.
Regarding churches, we read the following from a Google search: “Of the 373 recorded religious institutions, 321 were Christian churches, including 90 Greek Orthodox (75 in Istanbul), 55 Armenian (48 in Istanbul), 60 Assyrian, 3 Chaldean, 4 Bulgarian, 1 Arabic Orthodox, 53 Christian churches for foreigners, and 52 illegal Protestant Missionary churches.”
Nevertheless, the Church of the living Christ is present in this land, as it is in every country on the face of the earth until it is completed. Here we quote 2 Thessalonians 2:7: “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.”
Arno Froese is the executive director of Midnight Call Ministries and editor-in-chief of the acclaimed prophetic magazines Midnight Call and News From Israel. He has authored a number of well-received books, and has sponsored many prophecy conferences in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. His extensive travels have contributed to his keen insight into Bible prophecy, as he sees it from an international perspective.
