Turkey evacuates guards of Syria tomb
February 22, 2015
Turkish ground troops backed by warplanes have successfully completed a mission in Syria to evacuate several dozen soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire, state-run television reported early Sunday.
The tomb is situated just over the border near the town of Kobani in Syria's Aleppo province.
A military statement said one soldier was killed in an accident during the operation, but that there had been no clashes.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed the success of the operation in a statement, saying the remains of Suleyman Shah had also been brought back to Turkey along with the soldiers.
"The remains of (Suleyman Shah) have been temporarily repatriated and will be reburied inside Syria at a later date," he said, adding that the reburial would take place in the area of Eshme, which Turkey took over in the operation.
He said the operation had involved 572 Turkish soldiers, 39 tanks and numerous other military vehicles.
Later on Sunday, Syria decried the Turkish maneuver as an act of "flagrant aggression" that would have repercussions. In a statement published by the state-run news agency SANA, Syria's Foreign Ministry said Ankara informed the Syrian consulate in Istanbul before carrying out the operation but did not wait for approval from Damascus.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu confirmed that Ankara had acted without waiting for a Syrian reply.
"We got permission from no one, we conducted it with our own initiative," he said.
'Turkish territory'
The mausoleum is on territory declared Turkish under a treaty signed with France in 1921, when France ruled Syria.
Turkey had vowed to defend the tomb against jihadi 'Islamic State' militants, who have destroyed several tombs and mosques in Syria, deeming their veneration "idolatrous."
The army said the decision to evacuate the tomb guards had been taken in view of the worsening security situation in the region.
Ankara has so far otherwise shown reluctance to join a US-led campaign to combat the militants, and took no part in a battle for the strategic town of Kobani, which ultimately saw Kurdish fighters drive out the extremist group.
'Islamic State' has established a self-declared "caliphate" covering large areas of both Syria and Iraq. Their campaign has further complicated a bloody civil conflict in Syria pitting insurgents of various persuasions against President Bashar al-Assad.
tj,nm/sms (Reuters, AP)