ANKARA
Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu lashed out Wednesday against the main opposition party for attacking Saturday's "Shah Firat" military operation in Turkey's Syrian exclave to relocate the remains of Suleyman Shah.
During Monday's general assembly at the Turkish parliament, Republican People's Party, or CHP, MP Faruk Logoglu said "It is an attack against Syrian territories as several soldiers and tanks entered Syria."
"They are the spokesmen of the Syrian regime. Even the Syrian regime itself was not that explicit (in its criticism)," Davutoglu told a parliamentary group meeting of his Justice and Development, or AK, Party.
The premier was referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's reaction to the operation. The embattled Syrian president claimed that Ankara had not waited for approval and had therefore violated the agreement over the exclave, although the Turkish Foreign Ministry said it had sent a diplomatic note to the Syrian government beforehand.
He stated that CHP leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu keeps asking his government why it became an enemy of the Syrian regime "while 300,000 people were killed and other 5 million became refugees."
"Chemical weapons were used in Syria but he doesn't see these as he does not look with his heart," he said.
The premier also blamed Kilicdaroglu for his previous remarks where he promised his party will send Syrian refugees sheltered in Turkey back to Syria if they come to power in the June general election.
'Call for military coup'
Davutoglu also touched upon the recent statement from the Nationalist Movement Party, or MHP, where the party said, "Once, Turkey's chiefs of staff used to display the courage to resist political leaders for decisions which they found unfavorable and objectionable."
"This is nothing but a call for military coup, and a habit of the old Turkey. No political party represented in parliament is allowed to make such a statement," Davutoglu said.
The premier pledged that his government will not be discouraged by such calls in the new Turkey, adding that they will not tolerate insults against the chief of staff or members of the Turkish Armed Forces.
"The greatest threat against democracy is political party chairmen who make such remarks," Davutoglu added.
The Turkish prime minister stressed that they had to stage the operation so as not to let anyone drag Turkey into the conflict in Syria with a " fait accompli."
"If we hadn't relocated the tomb and had lost our soldiers there, then they (the opposition) would accuse us for not evacuating the place," he said.
Suleyman Shah was the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire. His tomb, and about 40 Turkish soldiers who guarded the Turkish territory inside war-torn Syria, were relocated Saturday during the military operation.
The two-pronged operation began late Saturday and ended in the early hours of Sunday. It brought the remains of Shah and sacred relics from the original exclave in Karakozak village in Munbic, Syria, some 37 kilometers away from the border, to Turkey.
At the same time, Turkey secured Ashme, another area in Syria close to its border, which has become the Shah’s temporary burial place. The operation involved nearly 600 troops and 39 tanks.
According to a treaty signed between Turkey and France in 1921, Turkey has the right to guard the tomb and raise a flag over it.
