Algemeiner: Turkey is in talks with Russia to use the airspace above northern Syria for a potential cross-border operation against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, Turkish Defence Minister Hulusi Akar said on Saturday.
(Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar holds a news conference in Ankara, Turkey December 24, 2022. Photo: Turkish Defence Ministry via REUTERS)
Turkey has carried out several incursions into northern Syria against the YPG and has been threatening a new incursion for months. It stepped up preparations last month after a deadly bomb attack in Istanbul it blamed on Kurdish militants.
The Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) militant group and the US-allied Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), spearheaded by the YPG, have denied involvement in the bombing of the busy pedestrian avenue.
Turkey launched air strikes against YPG targets in November and President Tayyip Erdogan signaled a possible ground offensive. Read More …
Opinion: Recep Erdogan regards the YPG (the bulk of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) as terrorists.
There are three unfulfilled prophecies regarding Turkey and the Kurds.
The Kurds are Biblical Medes:
The Medo-Persians, led by King Darius the Great (Daniel 5;1-30), invaded Babylonia from the east in June of 539 B.C. and captured its capital, Babylon.
The original ancestor of the Medes was Madai, the 3rd son of Japeth, a son of Noah who migrated north and east into the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea where Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Armenia, and Georgia converge today. Locals call this area Kurdistan, or land of the Kurds.
Turkey has been a staunch opponent of granting the Kurds a national homeland in Kurdistan because much of the land they would occupy is in Turkey, with some in Syria, Iran and Iraq as well. In fact, Turkey thinks it owns the land currently occupied by the Iraqi Kurds, including the rich oil fields there, claiming that their ownership dates back to the days of the Ottoman Empire.
It is important to note that Kurds are not Arab. In fact, the Kurds see the Arabs as their enemy, despite being mostly Sunni Muslim. The Kurds, at this point, are friendly with the Jews but that may be about to change if they feel betrayed by the US and Israel.
The Kurdish army, called the Peshmerga (those who confront death), is a fearsome fighting unit of approx. 150-200,000 who appear to have two roles in Biblical prophecy.
Psalm 83:6-8 lists Assyria (northern Syria and southern Iraq – land of the Kurds currently) as a part of an Arab alliance, including the inhabitants of Tyre (Hezbollah), that will attack Israel in the last days. Israel will be victorious and the army of Tyre is not mentioned again.
Ezekiel 38:1-6 lists Gomer (Turkey) with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops—the many nations with you, to join a Russian led alliance to wipe Israel off the map once and for all.
Daniel 11:40 does not list the individual armies of the king of the north in the war of Armageddon, but the tough resilient Kurds are excellent candidates to lead when the armies of the earth turn on Antichrist in the final battle of Armageddon, when Babylon is destroyed (Rev. 18:1-3) forever.
(see the 4 power blocs of Armageddon in Bible Prophecy 101 chapter 10 “Major Events of Unfulfilled Prophecy” here)
