WE WON THE ELECTION

We won the election! I don’t mean in the US, but in Turkey. On Sunday, June 7, Turkey had its national election. Why is this important and how did we win?

The Turkish Ottoman Empire had ruled the Middle East for 400 years, 1517-1917. It was an Islamic Caliphate similar to what ISIS is trying to reestablish. With the empire in ashes at the end of WW I, young Turks reconstituted Turkey as a secular, Western-styled democracy, of sorts.

This new form of government came into power on October 29, 1923, with Mustafa Kemal (Atatürk) as its first president. One of his first actions was to abolish the Caliphate. The government of Turkey has functioned in this way and aligned itself with the West for the last 80 years. That is, until recently.

The current president of Turkey is Recep Tayyip Erdogan. His party is known as the AKP. Erdgoan is a radical Islamists. From the time he came into power in 2002, he has moved Turkey away from its secularism towards Islam. He has been successful. His goal is to reconstitute the Islamic Caliphate in Turkey with Turkey, once again, ruling the Middle East. He has stirred up hatred of Israel, supported ISIS and been belligerent towards the US.

In the June 7 election, he hoped to reshape Turkey’s democracy by changing the dynamics of power from the Turkish parliament to give more power to the presidency, that is, to him. If he had succeeded, there would be little to restrain him from further establishing radical Islamic practices on the secular Muslim population, as well as the non-Muslim minorities. He would have been even more belligerent towards Israel and the US as well as his Arab neighbors in the region.

Thank God he did not get the majority he wanted. While his AKP still won the largest representation in the Turkish parliament, he was not able to consolidate his power and have a free hand to push his radical Islamic agenda in Turkey and the region. Of course, Erdogan is angry and frustrated. No telling what he will try next. So while you are watching US politics, keep your eyes and prayers on Turkey as there is a great battle for its soul. Is Ezekiel 38 waiting for Turkey?