“Turkey is not satisfied with merely giving all kinds of support to its puppets Daesh (the Islamic State group), (Al-Qaeda affiliate) the Al-Nusra Front and other terrorist groups,” says a foreign ministry statement carried by the official SANA news agency.
“It even carried out… a flagrant aggression against Syrian territory.”
The foreign ministry says its consulate in Istanbul had been informed by Ankara on Saturday evening of its plans to mount the operation deep inside Syria to evacuate soldiers guarding the tomb of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of the Ottoman empire’s founder, Osman I.
In this April 7, 2011 file photo, Turkish soldiers stand guard at the entrance of the memorial site of Suleyman Shah, grandfather of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, in Karakozak village, northeast of Aleppo, Syria. (photo credit: AP)
“But as usual (Turkey) did not wait for Syria’s consent.”
The ministry says the operation, in territory controlled by IS jihadists, was proof of “the close ties between the Turkish government and the terrorists.”
Separately, the main opposition Syrian National Coalition, which is strongly backed by Ankara, says it had been told in advance of the incursion.
“The Turkish government officially informed the coalition that its troops would enter Syrian territory,” it says.
— AFP
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