Tomb raiders: Turkey stages daring operation in Syria to evacuate troops and save historic Ottoman remains
Mission deep across border returns about 40 soldiers and crypt with remains of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of Ottoman empire's founder
PUBLISHED : Monday, 23 February, 2015, 1:15am
UPDATED : Monday, 23 February, 2015, 1:15am
Agence France-Presse in Ankara, Turkey
Almost 600 Turkish troops staged a daring incursion overnight yesterday deep into Syria, evacuating Turkish soldiers guarding a historic tomb who had been stranded in territory controlled by Islamic State (IS) jihadists.
Turkish soldiers at the memorial site of Suleyman Shah.Photo: AP
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the mission had succeeded, with the soldiers returning safely home and also bringing back the tomb containing the remains of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire's founder, Osman I.
He also made the surprise announcement that the Turkish troops had seized control of a new area inside Syria close to the Turkish border where the tomb will be relocated within days.
Turkish television showed pictures of troops planting the Turkish flag at the new location in the nighttime operation, which was the first such incursion by Turkish troops into Syria since the start of the civil war there nearly four years ago.
There were reportedly 40 Turkish soldiers guarding the mausoleum complex of Suleyman Shah on the Euphrates River, which under a 1920s treaty is considered sovereign Turkish territory and carries huge symbolic importance to Turks as a link to their pre-Ottoman past.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan congratulated the armed forces on the operation and confirmed that the tomb would be relocated in the Syrian district of Eshme, just 200 metres from the Turkish border. "Our flag will continue to wave in a new place to keep alive the memory of our ancestors," he said.
Eshme is close to the town of Kobani, which is now controlled by Kurdish fighters after a long battle with IS.
A soldier was killed in an accident during the operation to relieve the guards at the tomb, which according to state media is 37km inside Syrian territory, the Turkish army said in a separate statement.
It said the soldier lost his life in the "initial stage" of the operation but emphasised there were no clashes during the mission.
The army said the decision to evacuate the guards and relocate the tomb was taken because of the worsening security situation in the area, part of Syria's Aleppo province that is under the control of IS jihadists who have captured swathes of Iraq and Syria.
Turkish authorities denied press reports last week suggesting that IS may have kidnapped one of the guards.
Davutoglu said the operation had posed "considerable potential risks", but in the end Turkey had left nothing behind.
He said the remains of Suleyman Shah, who is said to have died in 1236, would be reburied in Turkey at a religious ceremony.
However he added that within days Turkey planned to bury the remains once again inside Syria in Eshme district. There was no indication of the size of the new pocket of territory under the Turks' control.
The tomb of Suleyman Shah is considered Turkish territory under the 1921 Treaty of Ankara between the Turkish authorities and France, which then controlled French-mandated Syria.
The figure of Suleyman Shah helps Turks link the Ottoman dynasty, which according to tradition was founded by Osman in 1299, with the early Turkic tribes who swept through Anatolia from Asia.
Davutoglu and Erdogan said the transfer of the tomb to a new location inside Syria was fully within international law as it did not violate the 1921 treaty.
The tomb had for years been guarded largely by conscripts, but in March 2014 Turkey reportedly sent several dozen special forces to guard it.
Erdogan and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad used to be close allies but fell out when Damascus began suppressing an uprising in 2011. Turkey now sees ousting the Syrian president is a key condition for ending Syria's civil war.
The operation to relieve the soldiers guarding the tomb took place as Turkey comes under pressure from its Western allies to play a greater role in the fight against IS jihadists. The US and Turkey on Thursday signed a deal to train and equip thousands of moderate Syrian rebel forces opposing Assad.
Additional reporting by Reuters
