The tomb of Suleyman Shah is in Syria, but considered part of Turkey.
Jihadist Threat Against Sacred Turkish Tomb Threatens To Widen Syria's War -- FOX News
A man who has been dead for nearly 800 years could be the catalyst that draws Turkey into Syria’s bloody civil war.
Jihadists who poured into Syria to help the Free Syrian Army only to turn on them, have threatened to attack the sacred tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire. The tomb is located inside Syria, in the border city of Aleppo, but the site is considered Turkish territory under a near century-old treaty.
"There is now a threat to that shrine; there are 25 Turkish soldiers currently there and the Turkish government takes this threat seriously because it is Turkish territory," Sinan Ulgen, a visiting scholar for the Carnegie Europe institute, told Voice of America
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Update: Turkey Warns of Syrian Intervention to Protect Ancient Tomb -- Voice of America
My Comment: It must be surreal for these Turkish soldiers in Aleppo to guard the tomb while destruction and death from Syria's civil war occurs all around them.
Ancient empires, peoples, hatreds, memories, insults, pride, prejudices. The very ground reeks of it.
ReplyDeleteJames .... in Aleppo's case it is particularly telling. Aleppo is believed to be the world’s oldest continuously inhabited city .... going back almost 5,000 years. So yes .... the ground reeks of history.
ReplyDeleteNow this is a twist I didn't see coming..
ReplyDeleteI wonder if Turkey will follow through