Turkey will intervene if Ottoman shrine is attacked in Syria

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu said in a press conference on Friday that Turkey will intervene to protect a historic Ottoman period shrine in Syria if it is attacked by either side of the conflict. The shrine commemorates the grandfather of the founder of the Ottoman Empire.

The Suleyman Shah Shrine is located 25 km away from the Turkish border in the Syrian province of Aleppo. It was designated as Turkish territory in a post-World War One agreement between Turkey and France signed in 1921.

According to Davutoğlu, the 25 Turkish soldiers protecting the shrine are on high alert after warnings by the militant ISIS group that it will attack the site. “Turkey will respond to whoever attacks the shrine, be it the Syrian regime or extremist groups,” he told reporters, “including ISIS.”