The biblical prophecies found in Ezekiel 38-39 tell us that in the last days, Turkey — known in ancient times as the nation of “Gomer” — will form an alliance with Iran (formerly known as “Persia”). Together, these two countries will form an alliance with Russia, Libya and several other Middle Eastern and Central Asian countries against the State of Israel. This will lead to the event Bible scholars describe as the “War of Gog and Magog.”
Given that Turkey in modern times is a NATO ally and has up until recently been a strong friend of both Israel and the U.S., this prophecy seemed unlikely to come true in the 21st century. But in the last 18 months we have seen Turkey becoming increasingly hostile to Israel, as I have written about in previous weblog postings (see this post, this one, and this one.)
Now consider some rather striking developments just this week:
- Iran to give Erdogan $25m. for re-election bid
- Erdogan: Turkey wants to triple trade with Iran within 5 years
- Turkey to increase trade with Iran despite sanctions
- Poll: Turks prefer Mideast over Europe — “Survey published by Guardian newspaper shows shift in Turkey’s attitude toward Western world. Fifth of respondents favor strengthening ties with Middle East, while only 13% prefer European Union.”
- Flashback: Turkey’s diplomatic offensive against Israel gains Muslim steam
- UPDATE: Report: Peres, Turkey president to meet on sidelines of UN assembly — Meet would be first of its kind between high level government representatives since Israeli raid on Gaza-bound aid flotilla in May.