AFP, Ankara :
Almost 600 Turkish soldiers crossed the border deep inside Syria overnight in a successful operation to repatriate troops guarding a Turkish enclave surrounded by Islamic State (IS) militants, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday.
The Turkish troops, reportedly numbering around 40, were guarding the mausoleum complex of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire’s founder, Osman I, which under a 1920s treaty is considered sovereign Turkish territory.
The tomb containing the remains was also successfully brought back to Turkey and Suleyman Shah will be reburied in a different pocket of Syria over which Turkey has also secured control, Davutoglu said.
Almost 600 Turkish soldiers crossed the border deep inside Syria overnight in a successful operation to repatriate troops guarding a Turkish enclave surrounded by Islamic State (IS) militants, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Sunday.
The Turkish troops, reportedly numbering around 40, were guarding the mausoleum complex of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire’s founder, Osman I, which under a 1920s treaty is considered sovereign Turkish territory.
The tomb containing the remains was also successfully brought back to Turkey and Suleyman Shah will be reburied in a different pocket of Syria over which Turkey has also secured control, Davutoglu said.
