Turkey displays its military capabilities to friends and foe

The successful military operation to evacuate its soldiers from the Tomb of Süleyman Shah in Syria has not only served notice to friends and foes in the region of Turkey's immense military capabilities, but it has also displayed Turkey's diplomatic and political strength in a troubled area.

The complex that houses the Tomb of Süleyman Shah, which was given to Ankara as a piece of Turkish land inside Syria through a treaty signed with the French, has been guarded by Turkish soldiers for several decades. In recent times the area had been surrounded by the extremist militants of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham (ISIS) and was constantly under threat. Turkey had served notice to ISIS and all those concerned in Syria that the tomb complex was off limits to everyone and that it was Turkey's redline.

About a month ago Turkish state officials apparently decided that there was a growing threat to the tomb complex and decided to evacuate the remains and valuable artifacts of Süleyman Shah as well as the Turkish military unit guarding it in view of the growing volatile security situation in the area. ISIS continued to threaten the tomb complex while Syrian Kurdish forces battling ISIS posed a new threat to the tomb and its surroundings.

Turkey has been the only country to force ISIS to bow to its demands. ISIS had to handover 49 hostages it captured when it invaded Mosul. Since then ISIS has been beheading Americans, other Westerners, Japanese journalists and aid workers, it torched a Jordanian pilot and beheaded 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya. It is spreading horror and fear. So it seems ISIS, which has no regard for human values, could not stomach its defeat against Turkey and may have wanted to get back by overrunning the tomb complex, capturing Turkish soldiers and creating a new sensation.

Thus, Turkey did not fall into the trap and once again launched a near perfect military operation Saturday night that was completed in the early hours of Sunday with only one casualty – the death of a military cameraman who was crushed by a tank in an accident. ISIS, or any other force, did not dare challenge the military operation that was conducted with great precision and with no hitches. It displayed Turkey's intelligence capabilities as well as its technological superiority. Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoğlu and other officials watched the operation live through cameras on unmanned drones, which are the product of Turkey. Turkish forces entered Syria, extracted Turkish soldiers and the remains of Süleyman Shah and two of his companions as well as historical artifacts and brought them back to Turkey. In a simultaneous operation, Turkish forces established a new area inside Syria close to our border to rebuild the tomb complex and lay Süleyman Shah to rest in that location. So Turkey did not give up any land in Syria but moved its location to an area closer to our border.

This operation, however, has to force Turkey to be even more careful and alert in the future. ISIS will not give up on its dream of taking revenge. Yet this operation has to show ISIS, the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad as well as the Kurds of Iraq and Syria what Turkey is capable of and its military strength along with its intelligence potential.

Turkey's military, armed with home-made capabilities, and its intelligence that can operate in Syria and Iraq effectively, especially among local tribes, is giving a strong upper hand to Ankara in the region. Shouldn't we Turks be happy and proud about all of this?

What is sad is that the opposition in Turkey is still far from seeing the main picture and is talking about the trees instead of the forest. They claim Turkey has lost land by moving out of the Süleyman Shah complex, portraying their contniues failure in grasping national security.