Ankara (Antara/Xinhua-OANA) - Turkey sent a letter to the United Nations and issued a note to Damascus affirming that the evacuated military post of Suleyman Shah Tomb in northern Syria "is still on Turkish land," Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Sunday. "We confirm that the evacuated military post is still on Turkish land, and we'll be back later," the minister told reporters in the tourist Antalya province along Mediterranean Sea, saying, "We did not evacuate, we relocated the tomb." In 1921 when Paris still ruled Syria, France and Turkey signed a treaty assigning the tomb on Turkish land. Turkish troops entered into the northern Syrian area overnight to extract some 40 Turkish soldiers guarding the Tomb of Suleyman Shah, located in the city of Aleppo in Syria by the Turkish border. Earlier, Turkish media reported that the Turkish soldiers were trapped for months by nearby Islamic State (IS) fighters. Ankara has vowed repeatedly to defend the tomb. The operation took place as Turkey took a step towards a greater role in fighting IS militants. Turkish officials signed a deal Friday with the U.S. to train and equip Syrian rebels against IS militants. Turkish Prime Minister, Ahmet Davutoglu, said Sunday that Turkey designated a new site in Syria to relocate the revered historical tomb to, once it is removed from its previous location. According to Davutoglu, about 100 military vehicles, including 39 tanks, 57 armed vehicles and 572 soldiers were involved in the operation started Saturday continuing through Sunday.(*)

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