Tomb of Sulayman Shah

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Tomb of Sulayman Shah (Syria)
Originally located at Qalʿat Jaʿbar
Originally located
at Qalʿat Jaʿbar
Location from 1973
Location from 1973
Current location
Current location
The different locations of the tomb
The old site of Qalʿat Jaʿbar
The second location from 1973
Photo of the false coffin (tr: Sanduka ) 1921

The grave of Sulayman Shah ( Turkish: Suleyman Şah Türbesi ) was on a peninsula in the Euphrates in the Syrian Governorate of Aleppo until September 2014 and has been the property of the Republic of Turkey since the Treaty of Ankara of 1921 . Turkey claimed the approximately two hectare site as an exclusive part of its national territory , but this is controversial. In the course of the Syrian civil war , the cenotaph was relocated and the doorway was blown up.

history

Sulaiman Shah (* around 1178, † 1236) is considered a tribal leader of the Kayı and (at least legendary ) grandfather of Osman I , the founder of the Ottoman Empire , the predecessor state of today's Turkey. According to legendary reports written several hundred years later by the early Ottoman historians such as Aschikpaschazade , Neşrî , İdris-i Bitlisî or Lütfi Paşa, Sulaiman Shah is probably incorrectly named as Osman's father, and the historians attributed Sulaiman's family tree to Noah with small differences. According to these reports, Sulaiman is said to have led around 50,000 nomads who were expelled from Iran. They would have made conquests in Anatolia. Sulayman Shah, however, is said to have drowned at Qalʿat Jaʿbar in the Euphrates and was buried there. After his death, the tribes are said to have disbanded and some of them settled in Anatolia. The Encyclopaedia of Islam notes the following: This story is perhaps due to a confusion between Sulaymān S̲h̲āh, the putative grandfather of ʿOt̲h̲mān I, and the Sald̲j̲ūḳid prince Sulaymān b. Ḳutlumus̲h̲ [qv]. The tomb itself is in all probability not connected with either of them.

According to the legend, his grandson Osman I owned a small domain near Bursa , which later rose to become a world power as the Ottoman Empire. Its Sultan Abdülhamid II had Sulayman Shah's traditional tomb built in the 19th century at the Qalʿat Ja Dbar Castle , which is located in today's Syria. After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire in connection with the First World War , the empire lost most of its national territory, including Syria, which was occupied by the French. The government of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey obtained an assurance from France in Article 9 of the 1921 Treaty of Ankara after the Cilician War that the tomb of Sulayman Shah and the accessories of the tomb in Qalʿat Jaʿbar will remain the property of Turkey. They also received the right to hoist the Turkish flag and to station guards on the two hectare area . This status was not changed by Syria's independence in 1946.

With the construction of the Tabqa dam , the castle threatened to be flooded, which is why Turkey and Syria agreed to relocate the tomb while maintaining their contractual rights. From 1973 the grave was near the Syrian city of Sarrin on the Euphrates. Turkey continued to make full use of its contractual rights. At the beginning of October 2014, 40 soldiers are said to have been there. Visitors were subjected to passport control .

In the Syrian civil war

The civil war that broke out in Syria in early 2011 and various incidents on the Turkish-Syrian border led to tensions between the two countries. The NATO operation Active Fence was a response to this and is intended to protect Turkish airspace. Referring to the tomb, the then Prime Minister and current President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in August 2012: “The tomb of Sulayman Shah and the surrounding land is our territory. We cannot ignore any damaging act against the monument, as it would be an attack on our territory, just like an attack on a NATO country. ”This position was later reiterated several times. In fact, according to German international law expert Matthias Hartwig , Turkey is able to have the case of NATO alliance declared after an attack on the tomb . This also applies if the tomb, contrary to Turkey's position, is not Turkish state territory, since an attack on the Turkish military, as it was stationed there, is sufficient, at least if it is violent enough. The Badische Zeitung , however, wrote that for the alliance case to be declared “an attack in the sense of the UN definition must be present”, which means that “an attack on a military post” is not sufficient.

During the war, the area around the grave fell under the control of the so-called Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) , a Salafist - jihadist terror organization that regularly blew up sacred buildings in its sphere of influence. On March 20, 2014, spokesmen of the jihadist militia asked Turkey to give up the area and evacuate - otherwise the tomb would be attacked. Turkey let this ultimatum expire after three days. The President of Turkey, Abdullah Gül , made it clear that the grave site would be "protected as our homeland is protected." The so-called ISIS did not honor the threat.

The leak of a tape recording in March 2014 caused a stir , in which leading Turkish officials discussed the option of staging a false flag attack on the tomb in order to find a reason for an intervention in Syria and the declaration of the alliance case.

evacuation

As of September 2014, the "ISIS", now acting as the "Islamic State", surrounded the tomb with around 1,100 fighters. On the night of February 22, 2015, Turkey evacuated the tomb with Operation Şah Fırat , and the mausoleum was blown up. This was done using 39 tanks and several hundred soldiers. One of them was killed in an accident. Turkey justified the military operation, in which ground troops were deployed in the neighboring country for the first time, with the poor security situation.

The tomb and cenotaph were brought to Aschme, a place in northern Syria that was controlled by the Kurdish People's Defense Units (YPG). The tomb will be rebuilt there. As long as the new site is not yet completed, the pseudo coffin is in Turkey.

The Turkish opposition reacted sharply to the evacuation, accusing the military and the government of cowardice and cooperation with the PKK- affiliated YPG, which had recaptured the area to the grave since the battle for Kobanê . For the first time since the founding of the republic, a government has given up Turkish territory.

Relocation to the original location planned

On April 2, 2018, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister Fikri Işık announced that the tomb would be rebuilt in its original location in northern Syria.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Lenz Jacobsen: A few square meters of war ground. In: Zeit Online . March 28, 2014, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  2. ↑ a b Ankara warns against attack on tomb. In: Hürriyet Daily News . August 7, 2012, accessed October 15, 2014 .
  3. ↑ a b Cigdem Akyol: Hundreds of thousands of Syrians flee from terror. In: Badische Zeitung (website). October 4, 2014, accessed October 15, 2014 .
  4. ↑ a b AFP: Keyword · SHAH-GRABMAL: Controversial mausoleum. In: Südwest Presse (website). October 8, 2014, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  5. ^ Encyclopaedia of Islam, sv D̲J̲aʿbar or Ḳalat D̲J̲aʿbar
  6. ↑ a b c Soner Cagaptay: A Piece of Turkey Lies in the Middle of the Syrian Desert. In: washingtoninstitute.org. April 9, 2012, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  7. ↑ a b Mission in Syria: Turkish elite units free comrades from the exclave , in: Spiegel Online, February 22, 2015.
  8. ^ Franco-Turkish Pact (Treaty of Ankara) , 1921, in English and French. Retrieved October 16, 2014
  9. ^ A b dpa: Erdogan: Soldiers are militarily liberated in an IS attack. (No longer available online.) In: shz.de. October 4, 2014, archived from the original on February 22, 2015 ; accessed on March 8, 2017 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.shz.de
  10. ↑ The use in Turkey. In: einsatz.bundeswehr.de. April 14, 2014, accessed October 15, 2014 .
  11. ↑ Terrorist militia blows up the mosque of the prophet Jonah. In: Zeit Online . July 24, 2014, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  12. ↑ Hamburger Abendblatt: Turkey's shady role in Syria , accessed on October 8, 2014.
  13. ↑ der Standard: Ankara's outpost in Syria under pressure , accessed on October 9, 2014.
  14. ↑ Alliance case on Syrian soil? IS surrounds the Turkish exclave. In: n-tv.de. September 30, 2014, accessed October 16, 2014 .
  15. ↑ Operation in Syria: Turkish elite units free comrades from the exclave. In: spiegel.de. Retrieved February 22, 2015 .
  16. ↑ Turkey evacuates troops at historic tomb in Syria, one soldier killed. Hurriyet Daily, accessed February 22, 2015 .
  17. ↑ Sebnem Arsu: Turkish Military evacuates Soldiers Guarding Tomb in Syria. New York Times, February 22, 2015, accessed February 22, 2015 .
  18. ↑ Turkey: Chief of Staff replies to criticism over Shah Firat operation , message from Anadolu Ajansı dated February 24, 2015.
  19. ↑ Turkish opposition criticizes gov't over Shah Firat operation , www.worldbulletin.net of February 24, 2015.
  20. ↑ https://www.dailysabah.com/turkey/2018/04/02/suleyman-shahs-tomb-will-return-to-original-location-as-turkish-land-deputy-pm-says