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Syria back on Turkey's agenda

The Syria issue is suddenly back on Turkey’s agenda after attacks by armed individuals coming from Syria.
A Turkish soldier runs after Syrians passing into Turkey from over the border with Syria from the wire fences illegally near Turkish border village of Besaslan, Hatay province, September 11, 2013. Picture taken September 11, 2013. REUTERS/Umit Bektas (TURKEY - Tags: POLITICS CONFLICT SOCIETY IMMIGRATION MILITARY) - RTX13JSX

Just what Turkey needed: As the country was already in the throes of pre-election turbulence, plus corruption scandals and leaks of secret phone conversations, the Syrian boomerang came back. The warning by Kemal Kilicdaroglu, the leader of main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), that Turkey could easily send its army inside Syria to defend the Sovereign Turkish Enclave of Jabar Fortress and the Tomb of Suleiman Shah, guarded by a small Turkish military detachment, was enough to bring the issue of a cross border operation on the agenda. This comes in addition to comments by Minister of Energy Taner Yildiz that in case of an attack against the tomb, Turkey could respond with “a specific point attack.” But a more serious development took place at Nigde, southeast of Ankara.

On March 20, while security forces were conducting routine checks on the Ulukisla-Adana expressway, three foreigners emerging from a taxi opened fire with an AK-47 (some reports say Glock automatics) and lobbed a hand grenade, killing a soldier and a policeman, and wounding five soldiers. The attackers were wounded in return fire, but got away in a van they commandeered for their escape. Two of the attackers who spoke Arabic and English were apprehended at Eminlik village, where villagers, thinking they were wounded Syrians, took them to the local medical clinic. The two were then transferred to a hospital at Nigde where local people protested vehemently, necessitating their transfer to Ankara. The third attacker was caught at Ulukisla village of Pozanti township. After performing his morning prayers at the local mosque, he went to shop for food and paid with a $50 bill. He was returning to the mosque when he was caught by security forces tipped off by villagers.

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