Ankara averts pre-election crisis over tomb in Syria
Turkey’s evacuation of the Tomb of Suleiman Shah in Syria was meant to remove the risk of an Islamic State attack that would have cost the government dearly in upcoming general elections.
On the night of Feb. 21, Turkey evacuated the Tomb of Suleiman Shah in Syria, its only territory outside the mainland, and 38 soldiers guarding the shrine.
The memorial site — an area of about 10,000 square meters (108,000 square feet) that Turkey acquired through international agreements near Karakozak village in Aleppo province, 33 kilometers (20.5 miles) from the border — had been under Islamic State (IS) threat for more than a year.
After taking control of the region, IS made its first threat to Turkey about a year ago, urging the evacuation of the site. The challenge caused serious distress in Ankara. A military operation to remove the IS threat around the site was put on the table as a possible course of action.
In March 2014, a secretly recorded conversation between four senior officials, representing the government, the security, the intelligence and Foreign Ministry establishments, was leaked on the Internet just a few days before the March 30 local elections.
