Originally published on March 20, 2014
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Following clashes between opposition groups in Syria near the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, Turkey has stated it is prepared to send troops across the border to defend against any attacks on the shrine, which is the purported burial place of the grandfather of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire.
"As of now, there has been no [moves on] our soldiers or our land there. But in the event of such a threat, we are ready to take all sorts of precautions," Turkey's foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters in the eastern province of Van on March 14.
Any further attacks against the tomb either from "the regime, from radical groups of from anybody" would be subjected to retaliation from Turkey, Davutoglu said.
The statement was made after clashes between the Free Syrian Army and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant intensified in the area, and an al-Qaeda-linked group took over a nearby town, according to a report in the Hurriyet Daily News.
The tomb, located 25 kilometers from the Turkey-Syria border in the governorate of Aleppo, is a sovereign enclave of the Republic of Turkey with a garrison of roughly 25 troops permanently stationed there. The memorial came under Turkish rule following a 1921 treaty signed between Turkey and France, which held Syria as a colony at the time. This treaty was renewed after Syria gained independence in 1936.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry, General Staff and the National Intelligence Organization held a meeting on March 13 to discuss security issues related to the tomb. The Turkish army is also gearing up for combat operations in northern Syria amid intense al-Qaeda fighting near the border.
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