In Brief... Turkey's Government Embracing Militant Islam
Turkey has been a longtime strategic ally of the West—including Israel—having the second-largest military force in NATO. But Turkey is "signaling it's leaving its Western friends" with its "embrace of extremist neighbors" (Jill Nelson, "Switching Sides," World, Nov. 21, 2009).
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the democratic Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923. Since then, Turkey has tried to maintain a secular government—one not controlled by the dominant religion of Islam.
A turning point came in 2002, when the AKP, a Muslim-oriented political party, gained power and installed Recep Erdogan as prime minister. As he had promised, Erdogan pushed for full membership in the European Union, but now it's obvious that he has given up on that goal. Some of the reasons? Many Europeans oppose full EU membership for a large Muslim nation (with 97 percent of its land mass in Asia). And Turkey's old ally, the United States, is showing major signs of weakness.
Lately Erdogan has been blatantly announcing his support for the Muslim world, including Iran and terrorist organizations like Hamas. It seems the West is in denial about this geopolitical earthquake.
An Article from:
World News and Prophecy: December 2009
Course Content
Darris McNeely
Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.
Donald Hooser
Don Hooser is a minister for the United Church of God. He lives in McKinney, Texas, a suburb of Dallas. He and his wife Elsie had three children, and she died in August 2020. Don married Judy in January 2022. Mr. Hooser graduated in 1963 from Southern Methodist University with a degree in mechanical engineering, and graduated in 1966 from Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas. For most of the time since then, he served as the pastor of churches in Ohio, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington. From 2011 until his retirement in 2021, his primary responsibility was answering the many letters written to the Church.
