Turkey in Syria & ISIS (merged thread)

[davidbfpo]

Where is the tomb? Helped by the sparse Wiki:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomb_of_Suleyman_Shah

The map will not load here, so a link instead:https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=the...ed=0CAoQ_AUoBA

An earlier news report cites the site is:

..the fenced compound on a strip of land jutting into the water near the village of Karakozak, about 25 kilometers (15 miles) from Turkey.

[CrowBat]

The Turkish garrison of that place (there is a small fort occuppied by Turkish Army nearby) is on alert, and the Turkish military is monitoring ISIS movements in the area.

[davidbfpo]

EA reported yesterday that:

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has confirmed that Turkey has sent its first military convoy into Syria. Erdoğan said the convoy took “aid” to the tomb of Süleyman Shah, the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, 25 kilometers (about 16 miles) inside Syria in Aleppo Province.

Claims circulating on social media on Wednesday said six Turkish tanks, 12 armored vehicles, and 300 Turkish soldiers had been deployed 200 meters from the positions of the Islamic State of Iraq and as-Sham. Video showed part of the convoy moving through a Kurdish checkpoint in northern Syria

Link:http://eaworldview.com/2014/04/syria...eppo-province/

Today EA reports ISIS has issued a demand to Turkey, in a video:

Although the Turkish armed forces are expected to withdraw immediately, we have given a three-day period. We ask them to remove the Turkish flag and withdraw the soldiers. We do not give consent to the armed forces of a secular country within ISIS’s sacred land. Otherwise, we will demolish the tomb.

Within a daily update:http://eaworldview.com/2014/04/syria...election/#ISIS

[davidbfpo]

One analyst concludes that:

on the way out, reports indicate that the convoy passed through Jarabulus – ISIS controlled territory.

There are scattered reports that ISIS stopped the convoy at the Qara Qawzak Bridge. As far as I can tell, ISIS controls the bridge. Pro-PYD folks have tweeted that there was some sort of interaction between the Turkish convoy and ISIS at the bridge. After the interaction, the convoy is reported to have continued on to Manbij, before turning towards Jarabulus, and then re-entering Turkey through Karkamis. I find this odd.


The most straight-forward way to go about this would have been to simply turn back and return through PYD controlled territory. Why did the TSK choose to proceed over the bridge and then return through ISIS controlled territory? Here is the route

Link:http://turkeywonk.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/2945/

The map below shows the entire route.

[davidbfpo]

Now there is a video showing the Turkish convoy returning via ISIS controlled land, I expect the big black flag is a sign:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5NWr9rJT19c

Yesterday source has an update too:http://turkeywonk.wordpress.com/2014...youtube-video/

[davidbfpo]

As the Turkish parliament debates renewal of permission for Turkish troops to cross into Iraq and Syria, just by coincidence Tweets that ISIS have moved closer to the tomb:

Deputy PM Arinc says ISIS militants are advancing on Suleyman Shah tomb in northern Syria.

[davidbfpo]

A nineteen page Turkish think tank report published today 'Defending the Tomb of Suleyman Shah:Turkey’s Options and Challenges', self-explanatory:http://www.edam.org.tr/Media/IcerikF...nSahReport.pdf

[Tukhachevskii]

One analyst concludes that:

Link:http://turkeywonk.wordpress.com/2014/04/24/2945/

The map below shows the entire route.

Good question... (regardless of who asked it; I've been wondering that myself)

"People need to ask as to why hasn’t ISIS blown up any Ottoman tombs anywhere in Syria and Iraq while they destroyed everyone else’s who wasn’t Ottoman?"

[davidbfpo]

A good question repeated by Tukhachevskii:

People need to ask as to why hasn’t ISIS blown up any Ottoman tombs anywhere in Syria and Iraq while they destroyed everyone else’s who wasn’t Ottoman?

The cited source refers to such tombs, but are there any I ask?

On a quick search I found two other mosques do have tombs, in Deir ez-Zor now held by ISIS and another method has been used:

The rooms that contain the tombs have been filled with cement

Link:http://www.worldbulletin.net/haber/1...hreat-in-syria

As Turkey regards the Suleyman Shah tomb as its own national territory and not another tombs you have an answer. The other Ottoman era tombs are not Turkish territory.