Turkey destroys its own exclave tomb in Syria, to not have it taken by IS

[Kyriakos]

Hundreds of Turkish troops in armoured vehicles have entered into northern Syria and evacuated a historic Ottoman tomb and the soldiers guarding it.

Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah would be moved elsewhere in Syria.

He said troops had destroyed the tomb's complex, apparently to prevent it from being used by Islamic State (IS) militants.

Turkey considers the shrine be to sovereign territory.

Suleyman Shah, who lived from around 1178 to 1236, was grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire, Osman I.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-31572257

Rather a 'strange' move. But more strange still is Davu's claim that the remains of the tomb "will be moved to a safer, other area in Syria". lol?
The bbc article notes that the exclave was agreed upon in 1921, but obviously this does not mean Turkey can just name some other Syrian place as now its new exclave.
Apparently the turkish tanks ruined the tomb so as to "not have it fall to Isis". Somehow does not seem very logical?

(bypassing the insignificant matter of sending tanks to a foreign country without consent, cause we are over that ).

[hellheaven1987]

Should send it back to Turkish motherland/Central Asia.

[Tureuki]

I hope they at least claim somewhere more logical using the change

[Diglytron]

Ridicilious explanation by the Turks. IS have been surrounding the tomb for months now, but when the Kurdish YPG and FSA (dawn of the freedom brigade) are advancing on Jarbalus suddenly they remove the tomb due IS danger. Lol.. IS is there for months already.... And now when IS is losing and Kurds are advancing the tomb needs to be moved?

[Roma_Victrix]

Ridicilious explanation by the Turks. IS have been surrounding the tomb for months now, but when the Kurdish YPG and FSA (dawn of the freedom brigade) are advancing on Jarbalus suddenly they remove the tomb due IS danger. Lol.. IS is there for months already.... And now when IS is losing and Kurds are advancing the tomb needs to be moved?

I know the Kurds and Turks don't get along with each other, but as far as I know the Kurds don't desecrate sacred tomb sites like ISIS does with Shia sites. I think this is just sheer paranoia on the part of the Turks, and rather stupid too, since they just destroyed part of their cultural heritage. That doesn't surprise me one bit, though, considering how this is the same Turkish government that recently destroyed an ancient Roman hospital of Galen in western Turkey by flooding it with dam water.

[Tureuki]

I know the Kurds and Turks don't get along with each other, but as far as I know the Kurds don't desecrate sacred tomb sites like ISIS does with Shia sites. I think this is just sheer paranoia on the part of the Turks, and rather stupid too, since they just destroyed part of their cultural heritage. That doesn't surprise me one bit, though, considering how this is the same Turkish government that recently destroyed an ancient Roman hospital of Galen in western Turkey by flooding it with dam water.

Its not recent, that thread is quite old

I doubt this has anything to do with Kurds, if Kurds tried to attack tomb, its would actually work in favor of Turkey, would support terrorist claims, but don't know what they were thinking, may be they decided they didn't wanted an opening that may force them to go to war.

[removeduser_487563287433]

I know the Kurds and Turks don't get along with each other, but as far as I know the Kurds don't desecrate sacred tomb sites like ISIS does with Shia sites. I think this is just sheer paranoia on the part of the Turks, and rather stupid too, since they just destroyed part of their cultural heritage. That doesn't surprise me one bit, though, considering how this is the same Turkish government that recently destroyed an ancient Roman hospital of Galen in western Turkey by flooding it with dam water.

Um... the tomb is about forty years old. The original was 50km to the south, drowned by a damning project...

[snuggans]

ooooooooo Turkey rolls in the tanks only when daesh is already fleeing thanks to the work of another force. when Kobane was being invaded all they did was watch from the border. daesh had already threatened the Turkish troops guarding the tomb last year and even then they did not send in the tanks. now they destroyed their own tomb. weird failures from Turkey here. im gonna have to agree with djehoety here, this is about the Kurds.

[JohnCarlo]

ooooooooo Turkey rolls in the tanks only when daesh is already fleeing thanks to the work of another force. when Kobane was being invaded all they did was watch from the border. daesh had already threatened the Turkish troops guarding the tomb last year and even then they did not send in the tanks. now they destroyed their own tomb. weird failures from Turkey here. im gonna have to agree with djehoety here, this is about the Kurds.

why does this surprise you? stop pretending

the only solution against isis is for the US to do nothing and leave, until ISIS becomes a problem for the surrounding countries, namely turkey, saudi arabia, iran and iraq, then the only solution on their hands is to shake hands, agree to form a coalition to attack isis, and be done with it

as of now, turkey has no obligation to bomb isis or attack them, considering isis didn't kill the turkish captives they had

Sweet, looks like Turkey created the precedent we need to invade Istanbul in case they decide to make Hagia Sophia into a mosque!

But seriously, it's an interesting move. I wonder if it actually means anything.

erdogan wants assad out, this was officially done because of the tomb, unofficially, erdogan wants to show assad " the police"

[dogukan]

I don't mind tbh. Better than Turkey actually doing something and ruining PYD's efforts.

[Kyriakos]

'Daesh sounds far cooler than IS'. It could have been some jive/trope too

[Stavroforos]

Sweet, looks like Turkey created the precedent we need to invade Istanbul in case they decide to make Hagia Sophia into a mosque!

But seriously, it's an interesting move. I wonder if it actually means anything.

[FireElemental]

Just moved it closer to the Turkish border. They have that right (Treaty of Ankara).

[Kyriakos]

Just moved it closer to the Turkish border. They have that right (Treaty of Ankara).

That treaty allows them to send tanks/soldiers into Syria? And just set a new location as the shrine? (maybe they should choose an oil-field).
Cause i somehow doubt they got any authorisation from Syria itself

[dogukan]

That treaty allows them to send tanks/soldiers into Syria? And just set a new location as the shrine? (maybe they should choose an oil-field).
Cause i somehow doubt they got any authorisation from Syria itself

Syria was a noob, illegitimate post-colonial country at the time so its not that crazy.

[Simon Cashmere]

That treaty allows them to send tanks/soldiers into Syria? And just set a new location as the shrine? (maybe they should choose an oil-field).
Cause i somehow doubt they got any authorisation from Syria itself

Believe it or not, (and I checked) it actually does. The treaty says they are the guardians of the Tomb, so if it is threatened - they can go in and protect it. Of course, that does not mean, advance a 1000 miles and take great swathes of disputed territory. Which they don't appear to be doing right now.

[neoptolemos]

I really hope the Turkish people are laughing at this pathetic display of nationalism

[removeduser_487563287433]

I really hope the Turkish people are laughing at this pathetic display of nationalism

Erm aren't they taking it down... Neo?

Nope, it's a new place. Well, they're posing for a photo, but I don't think the passing resemblance to the Iwo Jimo photo is intentional.

[Stavroforos]

I'm not sure what discussing the position of the flag has to do with the incursion though, it really seems to be a minute detail.

[Stavroforos]

It's funny because about a month or two ago someone wrote an article how this very tomb might cause an incident between the two countries...but it doesn't seem to have had the sort of destabilizing effect one would imagine invading a foreign country usually has.