Posted on 02/22/2015 1:10:13 AM PST by tcrlaf
Hundreds of Turkish troops in armoured vehicles have entered into northern Syria and evacuated a historic Ottoman tomb and the soldiers guarding it.
Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the remains of Suleyman Shah would be moved elsewhere in Syria.
He said troops had destroyed the tomb's complex, apparently to prevent it from being used by Islamic State (IS) militants. Turkey considers the shrine be to sovereign territory. Suleyman Shah was grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman empire, Osman the first.
SNIP--
The operation began on Saturday at about 21:00 local time (19:00 GMT) and ended on Sunday morning.
A large convoy, including 600 troops and about 100 tanks and armoured vehicles, passed through Kobane - the city which Syrian Kurdish fighters retook last month from IS - and travelled some 35km (20 miles) south to the tomb on the banks of the Euphrates river.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Turkey considers the tomb itself to be sacred Turkish territory. If the have blown up the tomb to keep ISIS from doing it, that is a BIG DEAL.
The mess in Syria constitutes the greatest threat to world peace since the Cuban missile crisis... IMO.
It would be of little concern if we did not have a petulant child as CIC...but we do, and Russia is not kidding around about either Crimea or Syria.
So do we need to show a stronger face, or a weaker face to to Russia?
The Turks removed the ancient tomb, moved it to Turkey, destroyed the modern shrine built around the ancient tomb, and plan to build a new shrine some where in Syria closer to Turkey in the future. And I suppose place they ancient tomb there.
What we should do is work for an alliance between the US and Russia. We would be formidable if we were allies.
That hope from almost a quarter century ago, has been destroyed by Russian and the KGB.
Russia is still Russia, and will always be Russia, it seems.
The Turks are a real mix of Muslim Brotherhood, secular European, NATO, anti-NATO, former best friend of Israel, now sworn enemy of Israel, support HAMAS, support Syria?, support ISIS? slight of hand politics...where are the Turks in this effort against Islam? Against us, for us, a mix of both? Is this a reliable partner?
...warning
Well, the USSR was broken and destroyed so we did get 2 decades of peace from their nuclear threat, but you are correct that such an evil global threat doesn’t just ‘end’, and they are reemerging.
We got a breather but as we see, even here at FR, the USSR has supporters posting.
tcrlaf is the head of them it seems.
Turks are Muslims. No ifs, ans, or buts.
Recep Erdogan is Islamizing Turkey & secular Kemalism is on the ropes.
When Hagia Sophia reopens as a mosque, Europe will again have an enemy at its eastern gate.
At the Gates of Vienna once again?
It does seem that Russia will be the gatekeeper in that region. Better them than the crooks of Kiev.
A bigger threat is if Assad falls, in that vacuum ISIS has a corridor to the Med. The US is still working for that.
Stability is the only thing that will stop ISIS. Everything the US is doing works against that.
As far as Turkey is concerned? They have a concern of their own. That would be the demands that are inevitable for an independent Kurdish state that would include a lot of their real estate.
If you’d like to be on or off, please FR mail me.
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The sick old man of Europe rescuing a dead old man. Too bad it doesn’t rescue a few live ones from a demon zombie of a religion.
We need to say to Russia - help your friend Assad.
But Russia was not always the KGB. There was Peter the Great and other great figures in their history. Napoleon, World War I and Hitler put Russia on guard militarily, and for good reason.
Putin will not always be there. We will someday, soon I hope, welcome Russia as family.
If Syria falls, what problems you see now will be multiplied by five. Welcome boots on the ground and great troubles in Lebanon and Jordan.
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