ISTANBUL, Turkey – The Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) provided a security corridor for Turkish troops to mount an incursion into northern Syria to evacuate the tomb of a historical Turkish hero, Turkey's Hurriyet daily reported on Monday.
It quoted witnesses as saying that some 300 YPG fighters were involved in the late Saturday operation to evacuate the Turkish-held memorial to Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman I, to prevent it from being captured and used by militants of the Islamic State (ISIS).
Dozens of Turkish tanks and armored vehicles, including some 600 troops, crossed the border in an operation that Syria on Sunday condemned as an “assault.”
YPG fighters reportedly created a five-kilometer long corridor, while Turkish units entered the canton of Kobane through the Mursitpınar border gate en route to the tomb. The site of the memorial in northern Syria is considered Turkish territory, according to a 1921 treaty, and was guarded by 40 Turkish soldiers.
An official from the Democratic Union Party (PYD), the umbrella group for the YPG, said late Saturday that the Turkish army had sought their cooperation for the operation, Hurriyet reported.
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu had acknowledged that the government communicated with groups inside Syria, including the Free Syrian Army, in order to avoid civilian casualties during the operation. But he did not mention the PYD, which controls the area where the Turkish army crossed the border to evacuate troops protecting the tomb.
“All parties were fully aware that any intervention or blockage of this operation would have received the harshest response,” Davutoglu said.
In an exclusive statement to Rudaw on Sunday, Syrian Minister of State for National Reconciliation Ali Haidar condemned the Turkish incursion, calling it an “assault” and a violation of sovereignty.
He warned that Syria would take a “strategic” response to the offensive, and accused Turkey of violating territorial agreements between the neighbors.
“Turkey’s direct intervention on Syrian soil has showed their true face and the hostile objectives of Turkey towards Syria,” Haidar told Rudaw in Damascus.
“Syria’s reaction will not be direct but strategic, even though our nation calls for repulsing Turkey’s intervention right away,” he warned.
Turkey said that the remains of Suleyman Shah had been “temporarily” brought to Turkey, but would be returned to the Ashma region in Syria, where Turkish forces had already raised their flag.
