Turkey’s Syria policy on the defensive

On the night of 21/22 February 2015, Turkish soldiers evacuated from Syria the remains of Suleiman Shah, the ancestor of the founders of the Ottoman dynasty, as well as 38 Turkish soldiers who had been guarding the tomb. The tomb was located on Syrian territory about 30 km from the border with Turkey, and was a formal exclave of Turkey. In the last six months, the surrounding lands have been overrun by militants of the Islamic State (IS). They harassed the Turkish guards, blocked communication between the exclave and Turkey, and threatened to destroy the tomb (as Salafists, they deem any cult of the dead to be idolatry).

After the liquidation of the old tomb, Turkey has started construction of a new one – also in Syria, but only around 200m from the border with Turkey, in an area controlled by the Kurds.

According to media reports, the transfer of the tomb was carried out in consultation with the Islamic State, which did not offer any resistance to the Turkish military.