Time to boycott Turkey
When Mr. Trump cuts taxes and rolls back the regulation bureaucracy, Americans will prosper. When they prosper, they travel. Turkey is home to many sites that the New Testament names: Ephesus, Colossae, Lystra, Sardis, Miletos, Pergamum, and so on.
The problem is, President Recep Tayyip ErdoДџan has been turning into a tyrant.
Here is a small list of his abuses.
1. He has recently taken control of churches of all denominations.
Here's the headline from one source: Islamist Turkey seizes ALL Christian churches in city and declares them 'state property'.
2. They have arrested various pastors for the false charge of "terrorism." Here is only one sample: Pastor from Black Mountain jailed in Turkey on ‘terrorism’ charges.
Here is an article from the Association of Protestant Churches, which lists a disturbing number of abuses and persecution: 2015 Human Rights Violations Report.
3. President ErdoДџan may have staged a false coup just so he can arrest his political opponents.
This is how many people Turkey has arrested since the failed coup (the answer is 35,022).
But even if the coup was real, he is now using special powers of arrest to protect his power and eliminate his opponents.
4. He is using the coup, fake or real, to impose "Islamization," a code word for sharia.
By definition, the growth of sharia entails Christians (and Jews) suffering persecution.
5. He hates the heroic Kurds more than ISIS.
ErdoДџan concerned more about Kurds than Islamic State
6. He does not support Israel. This point has been known for a long time.
ErdoДџan urges Muslims to protect Jerusalem, support Palestinians
We can draw these conclusions from Turkey's path toward radicalization.
- If Trump forms an alliance with Turkey, he needs to be careful that he is not putting his hand down a snake hole. As time rolls on, it looks as though he is in danger of doing just that.
- Trump needs to support the Kurds over Turkey.
- He needs to be careful about forming a three-nation alliance with the U.S., Turkey, and Russia. If he proceeds cautiously, then this might work. But they may clandestinely fight the U.S.'s and our true allies' interests.
- When Christian tourists visit the historic sites in Turkey, they help bankroll the regime.
Therefore, Christians now need to boycott Turkey and instead spend their tourist dollars in Israel.
James Arlandson's website is Live as Free People, where he has posted a fifteen-part series on the historical reliability of the four Gospels.