Turkish involvement in the Syrian Civil War

Turkey has criticized Britain for taking too long to inform it about three London schoolgirls who travelled to Turkey last week, possibly en route to join Islamist militants in Syria.

Deputy Prime Minister Bülent Ar?nç said he hoped the girls would be found, but that it would be Britain, not Turkey, to blame if they were not.

Turkey did not contact the armed wing of the Syrian Kurds' Democratic Union Party (PYD) or the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) prior to the evacuation operation of its troops from an historic Ottoman tomb inside Syria, a spokesperson for the presidency has said, reiterating the country still regards the PYD as a terrorist organization.

The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) poses a threat to Turkey, not the People?s Protection Units (YPG) militia of the Syrian Kurds, Peoples? Democratic Party (HDP) Co-Chair Selahattin Demirta? said on Feb. 23.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu has conducted a number of exchanges with foreign counterparts to inform them about the evacuation of the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah in Syria on Feb. 22.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavu?o?lu exchanged phone calls with his counterparts from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Saudi Arabia and Denmark, as well as NATO?s secretary-general, after the completion of the evacuation of the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah in Syria on Feb. 22.

Around 300 armed Syrian Kurdish fighters provided a security corridor for Turkish troops that staged an incursion to evacuate a Turkish-held tomb in northern Syria, witnesses in the region say.
 

Turkey informed the Syrian Consulate in Istanbul about a military operation to evacuate its military personnel protecting the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah in northern Syria, but Ankara did not await permission from Damascus, the Syrian government said Feb. 22.

Turkey delivered a diplomatic note to the Syrian consulate in Istanbul to inform Damascus that the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah was being temporarily moved to a new site in Syria corresponding to the size of the previous one, to the north of E?mesi village, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

Turkey informed the international coalition combatting extremist jihadists in Syria of its ??ah F?rat? operation to evacuate the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah right immediately after mobilization began, the Turkish prime minister has said.

Turkey has evacuated its military personnel protecting the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah in northern Syria as well as the artifacts in the mausoleum in an operation jointly conducted by the intelligence organization and the Turkish army, a few days after reports suggested that the tomb was besieged by jihadists belonging to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).