Reuters: Turkish military enters Syria to evacuate soldiers from tomb: sources
(Reuters) - The Turkish military launched an operation into Syria overnight to evacuate Turkish soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, two senior Turkish officials told Reuters on Sunday.
The mission was successfully completed, with the troops brought back to Turkey, but one soldier was killed in an accident during the operation, one of the officials said.
The Turkish government said late last year that Islamic State militants were advancing on the mausoleum, which is guarded by several dozen Turkish soldiers.
WNU Editor: This is just more evidence on the deteriorating situation in northern Syria.
8 comments:
All these hardline Islamicists have been destroying tombs from Mali to Iraq.
What will Erdogan do if ISIS destroys the tomb of Suleyman Shah?
Will he continue double dealing?
That's a really good question Aizino. Considering how he holds power in Turkey he could ill afford the loss of face. Turkey really is a wild card in all of this and has not been given as much attention as they should by everyone.
The tomb, on a site within Syria that Ankara considers sovereign territory as agreed in a 1921 treaty, was to be relocated close to the Turkish border, while Suleyman Shah's remains were taken to Turkey.
"The remains of Suleyman Shah, along with ancestral relics, have been brought back to our country pending their temporary transfer to a new site in Syria," said Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
So Suleyman Shah's remains are safe. As far as the 'tomb' itself; it's been demolished by the Turks to prevent its use by IS.
The tomb has already been relocated once due to a civil works project. I suspect that the Turks will only be concerned that they still have a their small piece of "sovereign territory" in Syria for Suleyman's tomb when all is said and done.
Phil,
Didn't know that. Makes a big difference. Was Suleyman's remains brought back with the Turkish troops that the article mentions?
Earlier, I believe. The troops were guarding the tomb as Turkish territory.
MoA has some "interesting" questions to ask Turkey,
"Indeed. Which leads me to this question:
What did Turkey give to the Islamic State to get the Süleyman Şah hostages freed without a fight?
Turkey already has a free trade agreement and bilateral touristic facilitation with the Islamic State. Something additional and very valuable for the Islamic State must have been agreed upon in exchange for the return of the hostages. What is it?
The U.S. wants to cooperate with Turkey to train Syrian fighters to fight against the Islamic State. It will be quite important to have the answer to the above question before continuing down that road."
I cannot find the link, but earlier today I read a Middle East news article that quoted an IS leader promising to not interfere in this Turkish military operation. The way it was worded convinced me that the lines of communications are very tight between Ankara and IS .... and for someone in authority in IS to say that .... they just have to be cooperating with Turkey on a number of issues.
WNU,
Hook line & sinker? Grain of salt?
No, I will take it at face value, but I will take tag it.
Makes me think the currently constituted Turkish government is as bad as Pakistan.
ISIS might have taken over all that territory all by itself without Turkey. Still its' staying power is in significant part due to Turkey.
It really helps to have a revolution, insurrection or whatever you call it backed by other powers.
The American Revolution was backed by France and Spain. the Spanish campaigned up the Mississippi and along the Gulf coast. that put the pressure on the British. The Spanish also guarded French colonies in the Caribbean against the British. That freed up the French fleet to go to Yorktown.
The Americans may not have needed the French & Spanish but it sure helped.
The citizens of Havana toward the end even made the American army payroll. When Castro is gone the American ought to pay Havana back.
Post a Comment