Caber Kalesi | Süleyman Şah Türbesi

“...Geldikleri yola gitmediler, vilâyet-i Haleb'e geldiler. Caber Kalesi'nin önüne vardılar ve (…) Fırat ırmağı önlerine geldi, geçmek istediler. Süleyman Şah Gazi'ye eyittiler, 'Hânım, biz bu suyu nice geçelim?' dediler. Süleyman Şah dahi atın suya depti, önü yar imiş, at sürçtü. Süleyman Şah suya düştü. Ecel mukaddermiş, Allah'ın rahmetine kavuştu. Sudan çıkardılar, Caber Kalesi'nin önüne defnettiler. Şimdiki hînde ona 'Mezar-ı Türk' derler”. Aşıkpaşazade[*] (b. 1440 - d. 1484)

Caber Kalesi was a Turkish exclave between 1921 and 1973. Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I, reputedly drowned in the Euphrates near Qal'at Ja'bar, and was buried near the castle. However, it is probable that this story resulted from a confusion between Suleyman Shah, and Sulayman bin Kutalmish, the founder of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm. It is however not certain whether the actual tomb, known as Mezār-i Türk, related to either of these two rulers. The Ottoman sultan Hamid II had the tomb reconstructed. By article 9 of the Treaty of Ankara of 1921[1], the area was accepted as Turkish territory and Turkish soldiers were allowed to guard the tomb after Syria's establishment as a French mandate and eventual independence. In 1973, in response to the rising water level of the newly created Lake Assad, the reputed tomb of Suleyman Shah and the associated exclave were moved to a new location north of Qal'at Ja'bar and Qal'at Ja'bar itself became Syrian territory.

[*] Aşıkpaşazade, or Ashik Pasha-Zade (meaning: "Son of Ashik Pasha") or Ahmad b. Yahya b. Salman b. Ashik-Pasha (1400—1484) was an Ottoman historian, a prominent representative of the early Ottoman historiography. He was a descendant (the great-grandson) of mystic poet dervish Ashiq Pasha (1272-1333). He was born in the region of Amasya and studied in various Anatolian towns before going to Hadj and stayed some time in Egypt. He later took part in various Ottoman campaigns, such as the Battle of Kosovo (1448), Fall of Constantinople and witnessed the circumcision festivities of Mustafa and Bayezid II the sons of Mehmed the Conqueror. Later in his life he started to write his famous history work Tevārīḫ-i Āl-i ʿOsmān.

Mavi Boncuk |

Turkish: Caber Kalesi | Qal'at Ja'bar (Arabic: قلعة جعبر‎, ) is a castle on the left bank of Lake Assad in Ar-Raqqah Governorate, Syria. Its site, formerly a prominent hill-top overlooking the Euphrates Valley, is now an island in Lake Assad that can only be reached by an artificial causeway. Although the hilltop on which the castle sits was possibly already fortified in the 7th century, the current structures are primarily the work of Nur ad-Din Zangi[1], who rebuilt the castle from 1168 onwards. Since 1965, several excavations have been carried out in and around the castle, as well as restoration works of the walls and towers. 

[1] 

1.  Full text of the Franco-Turkish agreement of Ankara 

The Ankara Agreement (or the Accord of Ankara; Franklin-Bouillon Agreement; Franco-Turkish Agreement of Ankara, Turkish: Ankara Anlaşması) was signed on 20 October 1921 between France and the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, ending the Franco-Turkish War. 

The signatories were French diplomat Henry Franklin-Bouillon and the foreign minister, Yusuf Kemal Bey. Based on the terms of the agreement, the French acknowledged the end of the Franco-Turkish War and ceded large areas to Turkey. However other French units in Turkey were not affected, in return for economic concessions from Turkey. In return, the Turkish government acknowledged French imperial sovereignty over French Mandate of Syria. The treaty was registered in League of Nations Treaty Series on August 30, 1926.

This treaty changed the Treaty of Sèvres border between Syria and Turkey to the benefit of the latter, ceding large areas of the Aleppo and Adana vileyets to Turkey. From west to east, the cities and districts of Adana, Osmaniye, Marash, Aintab, Kilis, Urfa, Mardin, Nusaybin, and Jazirat ibn Umar were consequently ceded to Turkey. In accordance with Article 9 of the treaty the Tomb of Suleyman Shah (the burial place of Suleyman Shah, the grandfather of Osman I, the founder of the Ottoman Empire) "shall remain, with its appurtenances, the property of Turkey, who may appoint guardians for it and may hoist the Turkish flag there".

This annulment of French claims over Turkish land was later officially recognised in the Armistice of Mudanya. The new border was recognized in the subsequent Treaty of Lausanne.


Madde 9) Osmanlı sülalesinin kurucusu Sultan Osman'ın dedesi Süleyman Şah'ın Caber kalesinde bulunan ve Türk mezarı ismiyle belirli türbesi müştemilatı ile Türkiye'nin malı olacak ve Türkiye oraya muhafızlar koyacak ve Türk bayrağı çekecektir.


[2] Nur ad-Din Zangi | Nūr ad-Dīn Abū al-Qāsim Maḥmūd ibn ʿImād ad-Dīn Zangī (February 1118 – 15 May 1174), also known as Nur al-Din (from Arabic: نور الدين‎, "Light of the Faith") or Nur ed-Din, was a member of the Turkic Zengid dynasty a Muslim dynasty of Oghuz Turk origin which ruled the Syrian province of the Seljuk Empire. He reigned from 1146 to 1174. Nur ad-Din was the second son of Imad ad-Din Zengi, the Turkic atabeg of Aleppo and Mosul, who was a devoted enemy of the crusader presence in Syria. After the assassination of his father in 1146, Nur ad-Din and his older brother Saif ad-Din Ghazi I divided the kingdom between themselves, with Nur ad-Din governing Aleppo and Saif ad-Din Ghazi establishing himself in Mosul. The border between the two new kingdoms was formed by the Nahr al-Khabur River. Almost as soon as he began his rule, Nur ad-Din attacked the Principality of Antioch, seizing several castles in the north of Syria, while at the same time he defeated an attempt by Joscelin II to recover the County of Edessa, which had been conquered by Zengi in 1144.