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Did Erdogan Stage A Phony Coup So He Could Create An Islamic State In Turkey?

A US-based Turkish cleric accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Ankara government has claimed President Recep Erdogan staged the rebellion himself.

Published

10 years ago

July 16, 2016

Geoffrey Grider

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A US-based Turkish cleric accused of plotting a coup to overthrow the Ankara government has claimed President Recep Erdogan staged the rebellion himself to justify a major clampdown on opposition forces.

Fethullah Gulen, who was a former key ally of Erdogan has been blamed by the politician of using his contacts to develop a ‘parallel structure’ to overthrow the state. Erdogan has called on US President Barack Obama to extradite Gulen, who is based in Pennsylvania.

In response to the attempted rebellion, Turkish authorities have detained 2,745 judges and prosecutors whose loyalty to the regime has been questioned. Also, some 2,839 soldiers – including the head of the Third Army Corps in Istanbul, General Erdal Ozturk – have been arrested.

PM Binali Yildrim described the plot, which claimed the lives of 161 civilians with 1,440 wounded, as a ‘black stain on Turkish democracy’.

Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman unexpectedly sparked controversy in Turkey when on April 25 he declared that Turkey’s new constitution should forgo mention of “secularism” and instead be a “religious constitution” referencing God. His words reignited Turkey’s always tense “secularism debate,” which has been amplified since 2002 when the Justice and Development Party (AKP) came to power. Kahraman’s remarks led to protests in a number of cities, a call by the main opposition leader for him to resign and allegations by secular pundits that the Speaker had shown the AKP’s “true face,” its “real intentions.” Because Kahraman is a known confidant of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, many also suspected that his statement was part of a scheme being orchestrated by Turkey’s leader.

In the next two days, however, the major figures in the AKP disowned Kahraman’s position on a “religious constitution.” The AKP’s Mustafa Sentop, chairman of parliament’s constitutional commission, said that Kahraman’s view was not a “party stance” and that “secularism is preserved in our constitutional draft.” Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu asserted, “In the new constitution that we are preparing, the principle of secularism will be included.” He added that it would be a “liberal interpretation” of secularism, not an “authoritarian” version. In also addressing the controversy, Erdogan not only professed support for secularism, but even offered an inspired defense of the principle.

Defining secularism as the state’s “obligation to stay at an equal distance to different faith groups,” he explained why it is a good idea: “If the faith of all religious groups in this country is guaranteed in the constitution, and the state’s equal distance to all religious groups is a foundation, why do you need to emphasize Islam? If I can live my faith as a Muslim the way I want to, the issue is over. If a Christian can live his/her Christianity, if a Jew can live his/her Jewishness or an atheist can live his/her atheism, the issue is also over for them.”

Will Erdogan’s powerful statement ease the tensions over secularism? Probably not, because many secularists fear that they have not yet seen the AKP’s “true face.”

A common view in opposition circles is that Kahraman’s statement on doing away with secularism and introducing a religious constitution did not reflect his “personal views,” as he claimed, but was in fact part of a plan cooked up by Erdogan. Accordingly, Erdogan wanted to test the waters by having Kahraman float the idea of a religious constitution, but then defended secularism after the reaction it elicited. An “Islamic state,” however, remains Erdogan’s long-term goal in their thinking. Another, more persuasive interpretation of events would be as follows.

Erdogan’s ambitions are more about power than doctrine. For power, he needs to sustain popular support, and for popular support, he needs to use religion, but only to a certain extent. While religious symbolism has broad appeal in Turkey, a Quran-thumping Islamic state does not. Various polls bear this out. The most recent survey of the political inclinations of Turkish society was conducted in 2013 by the Pew Research Center, which found that only 12% of all Turks support “making Sharia the official law in their country.” In contrast, 84% of Pakistanis and 74% of Egyptians supported the idea.

Erdogan likely has the support of this hardcore, Islamist minority of 12%, who probably do expect him to create their utopia. At the same time, he also has the support of a much larger block of “conservative” voters who are religious and like reference to religion, but who still prefer to live under secular law. This is why Erdogan would want to retain secularism in the Turkish constitution, albeit while not shying from venerating religion in the public square or perhaps even in the constitution.

A journalist with access to the AKP recently wrote in an insider report that there is a chance that the new constitution will preserve secularism — “laiklik,” from the French “laïcité” — but the preamble might make reference to “Allah and the religion of Islam,” along with some historical figures such as Rumi and Atatürk — in other words, something for everybody. Another rumor is that the preamble will make reference to “the Creator,” a possible inspiration from the US Declaration of Independence.

The more likely future for Turkey is not a Sharia-imposing Islamic state, but a more conservative state re-designed in the image of the AKP. Keep in mind that the latter-day ideology of the party is not simply “Islamism” after all, but “Erdoganism,” in which Islamism is indeed an important theme, but not the only theme. This would not put Turkey on the path to becoming another Iran or Saudi Arabia, as Turkey’s secularists fear, but it could lead in the direction of another Russia, where a similar ideology, “Putinism,” rules.

As the journalist Fareed Zakaria astutely observed, Putinism consists of five fundamentals: religion, nationalism, social conservatism, state capitalism and government media control. “Returning to the values of religion” — in particular Orthodox Christianity — is a powerful theme in Putin’s agenda, with a global vision of “protecting persecuted Christians all over the world.” Replace “Christian” with “Muslim,” and one has Turkey’s ruling ideology. source

Related Topics:Erdogan Islamic State Turkey

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Headline News

OPERATION AFRICA! UPDATE: We’re Sending The Children At The Glory Fellowship Orphanage Some Pillows To Go With Their New Mattress And Blankets

Published

24 hours ago

August 22, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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We need to send pillows for all the orphans at the Glory Fellowship Orphange in Kenya, come help us to complete this urgent calling at Operation Africa!

An NTEB’r wrote to us the other day, sending some much-needed and appreciated support for Operation Africa!, and with that support included a very short message that simply read something along the lines of “let’s send them some pillows. They need pillows”. As I read it, I thought that’s a great idea, then got super busy and the thought went right out of my head. Earlier this afternoon, the Lord brought it back to my remembrance, and I ordered enough pillows for every one of the orphans. The image you see at the top of this article is a photo of what the pillows look like, perfect and for kids who live in crushing poverty.

“And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow: and they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?“ Mark 4:38 (KJB)

Pastor Dancan asked us for the 200 Bibles we originally sent him, and we were happy to wind up sending over 1,100 of them for his church. But he never asked us for things they so desperately needed like clean water, or a water tank, or a well, or the mattresses and blankets we sent him. He didn’t even ask us for medicine for the kids, as sick as they were, when they had malaria and typhoid, and he didn’t ask us to send the children these pillows. So who asked us to do all this? The LORD did, He gave us an urgent and unmistakable calling, and we are doing are best to answer it. We need to raise just under a thousand dollars to pay for the pillows, and we invite you to come help us!

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If God has prospered you, please take a moment to click on the donate button to help us in this overwhelmingly urgent task of providing the children of Glory Fellowship Orphange with medicine and clean drinking water. We need your prayers, we need your generous financial support, and we need you to stand with us in the closing days of the Church Age. Thank you so very much, TO THE FIGHT!!!

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Donald Trump

Eisenhower Warned Us About The Military-Industrial Complex, Now ‘President Of War’ Donald Trump Is Building One Beneath The White House Ballroom

Published

2 days ago

August 21, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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From People’s House To Presidential Fortress As Trump Builds A Nuclear-Hardened Military Complex Beneath His Golden Ballroom

Donald Trump has spent years promoting himself as the great peacemaker, the man who would end wars and prevent World War III. Yet his most permanent architectural contribution to the American presidency is not a peace garden, a diplomatic center or a hall dedicated to reconciliation—it is a five-story military fortress buried beneath the White House. What began as a lavish ballroom with chandeliers, gold columns and thousand-seat state dinners is now being defended before the Supreme Court as an “integrated military complex” essential to surviving bombs, missiles, drones and even nuclear attack. The symbolism could not be more devastating: Trump talks like the president of peace, but he is rebuilding the People’s House for war. The Wall Street Journal reports that the Supreme Court has temporarily allowed construction to continue while considering the administration’s emergency appeal.

“And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” Revelation 6:15-17 (KJB)

President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a five-star general who understood war better than almost any president before or since, warned America in 1961 about the dangerous rise of the military-industrial complex. He cautioned that the combination of government power, military machinery and private industry could acquire “unwarranted influence” and endanger both liberty and democratic government. Sixty-five years later, Trump is constructing a literal military complex beside the Eisenhower Executive Office Building. Private corporations and wealthy elite donors finance the glittering ballroom above, while the government and military build the hardened command fortress below. Eisenhower’s warning is no longer merely hanging over Washington—it is being poured into the ground in nuclear-grade concrete.

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The administration’s own Supreme Court filing removes all doubt about the true character of this structure. It describes five underground stories containing bomb shelters, military command-and-control capabilities, secure communications, emergency hospital facilities, missile-resistant columns, blast-proof glass, military-grade ventilation, sniper positions and a rooftop drone port. Above ground, visiting dignitaries will dine beneath crystal chandeliers; below their feet, military personnel will monitor tactical screens behind blast doors. The ballroom is the façade, but the bunker is the beating heart of his project.

This is the presidency Trump is physically preparing for: permanent threats, expanding militarization and catastrophic warfare. A true president of peace would be measured by the wars he ended and the bloodshed he prevented—not by the magnificence of the bunker he constructed for himself and future rulers. Trump may continue to speak the language of peace, but concrete tells the truth. Missiles, drones, bomb shelters, sniper nests and nuclear protection are not the architecture of a coming golden age. They are the architecture of a government expecting the world to burn. Donald Trump calls himself the president of peace, but his Military-Industrial Complex Ballroom reveals a president preparing for war.

Trump Is Fulfilling Eisenhower’s Warning Of The Military Industrial Complex

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“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;” Titus 2:13 (KJB)

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Headline News

THE PROPHECY NEWS PODCAST: As Ben-Gvir Builds His Gallows, We Ask Are Israel’s Own Rulers Helping Make Jerusalem The ‘Burdensome Stone’ To The World?

Published

2 days ago

August 21, 2026

Geoffrey Grider

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THE WHOLE WORLD AGAINST JERUSALEM: Could The Actions Of Israel’s Own Leaders Be Helping Fulfill The End Times Conditions Foretold By The Prophets?

Isaiah’s warning is not merely some distant prophetic curiosity — we are watching the pattern unfold right now. The prophet Isaiah speaks of “scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem”, and today Israel is being led by men whose rhetoric, policies and public displays are helping turn the nations against the Jewish state. Ben-Gvir standing before newly constructed gallows, boasting about executions and viewing booths, is not simply another controversial political moment; it is exactly the kind of spectacle that hardens global opinion, isolates Jerusalem and gives Israel’s enemies fresh ammunition. The world is already increasingly hostile toward Israel, and instead of slowing that momentum, some of Israel’s own rulers are actively pouring gasoline on the fire. The “scornful men” are ruling Jerusalem, and they are helping create the very conditions the prophets said would exist in the last days.

“Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.” Isaiah 28:14 (KJB)

“And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.” Zechariah 12:3 (KJB)

On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, Zechariah said Jerusalem would become “a burdensome stone for all people” and that eventually “all the people of the earth” would be gathered against it (Zechariah 12:3 KJB). That prophecy does not require Israel to be innocent of every wrong action; in fact, Scripture repeatedly shows Israel in rebellion and under corrupt leadership immediately before divine intervention. What we are witnessing now is the process taking shape: outrage, condemnation, diplomatic isolation, growing hostility, and leaders in Jerusalem whose own actions are accelerating the collapse of international sympathy. Ben-Gvir’s gallows are not happening in a vacuum — they are part of a larger prophetic trajectory in which Jerusalem becomes increasingly unbearable to the nations. The road to Zechariah 12 is being built in real time, and astonishingly, some of the men ruling Jerusalem are helping pave it themselves. Today we do a Bible Study ripped from the headlines to show you just how close the Jews and Israel are to the time of Jacob’s trouble!

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