Turkish soldiers launched an overnight raid into neighboring Syria, evacuating dozens of besieged troops guarding an Ottoman tomb and moving the crypt closer to Turkey after ceremonially planting the country’s crescent-and-star flag at its new site.
The mission, saving Turkish soldiers reportedly stuck for months at the tomb of the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, saw troops cross the border near the once-besieged border town of Kobane.
Turkey was widely criticized for not intervening for months in the Kobane battle, which finally saw Kurdish fighters backed by US-led airstrikes push out the extremists.
Photo: EPA
“We had given the Turkish armed forces a directive to protect our spiritual values and the safety of our armed forces personnel,” Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said in televised remarks.
Nearly 600 Turkish soldiers and about 100 tanks and armored personnel carriers crossed into Syria on Saturday night, backed by warplanes, Davutoglu said yesterday.
One group traveled to the tomb, about 35km from Turkey on the banks of the Euphrates River in Syria’s embattled Aleppo Province, Davutoglu said.
Another group seized an area only 200m from the Turkish border in Syria’s Ashma region, according to a statement from Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office.
One soldier was killed in an “accident” during the operation, Turkey’s military said, without elaborating.
Turkish media later showed nationalistic images of three Turkish soldiers raising the country’s flag at the new site.
“Before the Turkish flag was lowered at [the tomb], the Turkish flag started to be waved at another location in Syria,” Davutoglu said.
He said troops destroyed the complex once housing the tomb.
The US-led coalition forces were informed of the Turkish operation after its launch to prevent any casualties, Davutoglu said.
US officials and the Syrian government offered no immediate comment.
The tomb belonged to Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire. The site along the Euphrates River is revered by Turkey, whose rights there stem from a 1921 treaty with France, then the colonial power in Syria.
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