Soldier's view: Better late than never

There will be a lot of political discussion on the evacuation and relocation of the Tomb of Süleyman ?ah in Syria. Historically, last week?s military operation carries a lot of significance. And no matter who says what it is, it is an obvious withdrawal. But the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had a pretty good reason for the move.

My sources told me that the military decided for a change-of-guards in the Tomb in the early summer of 2014. Then came the fight for Kobane. Between the months of August and October, political decision makers in Ankara were reluctant to launch any sort of a military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). The Turkish National Intelligence (M?T) took the initiative then and pushed for ?local elements? to get involved. This meant that M?T was in touch with some Sunni tribes in the area that could facilitate the change-of-guards. But the air raids of the coalition forces and Democratic Union Party?s (PYD) surge to push ISIL almost made M?T irrelevant. Nobody really cared about Turkey?s position, nor Turkey?s soldiers in the Tomb.

A Former Major in the Special Operations, and currently a scholar at Bilkent University, Metin Gürcan told me the TSK accelerated their plans to evacuate the Tomb after Jordanian RAF pilot Muath al-Kassasbeh was taken hostage and burtally burned to death. ?There is a very deep trauma in Jordan? Gürcan said, ?There are increasing cases of radicalization against ISIL, suicides [bombings] etc. Unfortunately, it may take a decade for the Jordanian Army to overcome this trauma.?

Sources close to the TSK told me even the slightest possibility of an image of a single Turkish soldier in orange jumpsuit caged by ISIL would send chills to the bones of every soldier in uniform. ...