IS TURKEY CHANGING SIDES?
Perspective on the news by Jack Kelley
Prophezine , TX
Oct 4 2006
In the Qandil (Kandil) Mountains, where Turkey, Iran, Iraq, and Syria
all meet lies the ancestral homeland of the Kurds, known in history
as the Medes, who were partners with Persia in defeating Babylon.
The Kurds call this area Kurdistan, but the land they refer to
technically belongs to the four neighbors mentioned above, none
of whom want to give it up. Turkey is perhaps the most determined,
having suffered numerous terrorist attacks at the hand of the PUK,
a group of militant Kurdish separatists. One of the reasons that
Turkey refused to help in the current war in Iraq is that the USA
refused to deny the Kurds a voice in governing post-war Iraq.
Turkey has been legitimately afraid that in return for Kurdish
assistance in deposing Saddam Hussein (it was the Kurds who
located Saddam and tipped off US troops) the US would permit at
least unofficial attempts to establish a Kurdish homeland on land
that Turkey claims. Turkey has maintained up to 20,000 troops on its
border with Iraq to prevent such a move.
And in fact the US has been vacillating on the Kurdish issue, even
publishing a map of the region showing the presence of a Kurdish
entity. US officials later claimed it didn’t accurately reflect US
policy. Turkey is skeptical.
Iran sees this situation as an opportunity to further strengthen its
regional position and has teamed up with Turkey to assist in removing a
force of 5000 PUK soldiers from the area where Iran abuts Iraq in the
Qandil Mountains. According to several news and intelligence sources
they already have positioned troops some 7-8 km inside Iraq and have
begun shelling the mountain hideouts. The situation for Turkey offers
some big incentives.
Not only do they get help in spanking the PUK, but have made it known
that they have their eye on Kirkuk, an Iraqi city in the area that
produces 40% of Iraq’s oil output, and that Turkey had made claim
to before.
For its part Iran also sees a chance grab a chunk of Northern Iraq
for itself. In addition Iran wants to destroy forward intelligence
positions the Israelis may have secretly placed among the Kurds to
help them receive the earliest possible warning of an Iranian attack
on Israel. Knocking out these posts would give the Iranians two
significant victories against the Israelis within the span of just
a few months, the war in Lebanon being the other. The loss of this
intelligence would no doubt reduce the possibility for a successful
US-Israeli attack against Iran, too. Russian and Iranian intelligence
experts are both predicting such an attack before the end of 2006.
Many observers believe it’s already too late to stop the Turkey-Iran
initiative. The question is whether it will blossom into yet another
Mid-East war pitting the US, Iraq, and Israel against Iran, Turkey,
and possibly Syria.
Students of prophecy should follow these developments closely. Turkey
is felt by most to be a modern component along with Armenia of the
Beth Togarmah mentioned in Ezekiel 38:6. We’ve long said that as long
as Turkey is aligned with the west Ezekiel 38 can’t happen. Bringing
Turkey into the Moslem alliance against Israel would remove one more
roadblock to its fulfillment. There aren’t many left.