Ancient Tomb Helps Push Turkey to Authorize Force Against Islamic State
Threat to Suleyman Shah's tomb helps trigger Turkey's response to the jihadist group.
Had it not been for Syria's brutal civil war, the tomb of Suleyman Shah would have likely remained a geographical footnote. But this week the 700-year-old tomb became a flashpoint that helped prod Turkey into entering the battle against the Islamic State (IS; also called ISIS or ISIL).
For centuries the tomb has stood beside the banks of the Euphrates, the river where Suleyman is presumed to have drowned in 1236 while on campaign in what is now Syria.
As the grandfather of Osman I, founder of the Ottoman Empire, his tomb and its accompanying shrine are revered historical sites for the Turks.
One of the clauses in the 1921 Treaty of Ankara, which shaped the boundaries of modern Syria, stipulated that
