NewsTracker Answers for week of Feb. 23, 2015

Q: Hundreds of Turkish forces in armored vehicles entered war-torn Syria over the weekend to evacuate troops guarding a historic tomb, demolishing it and moving the the 13th century remains of Suleyman Shah to a different site. Where is Turkey?

Circle the area on this map

Q: The new burial site is still in Syria but near the border in an area under Turkish military control. Where is Syria located in relation to Turkey?

A. To the north

B. To the east

C. To the south

D. To the west

c. Syria borders Turkey to the South. Civil war has raged for more than three years in Syria on Turkey's southern border. Islamic State forces in Syria had threatened to destroy the tomb of Suleyman Shah, who was grandfather of the founder of the Turkish Ottoman empire, Osman I.

Q: To get to the old tomb, the troops traversed Syrian territory that Peshmerga fighters had taken back from Islamic State militants. The Peshmerga are members of which ethnic group that also is Turkey's largest minority?

A. Kazakhs

B. Kurds

C. Kyrgyz

D. Krymchaks

B. The Kurds' Peshmerga arguably has been the most effective force fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq. About 40 million Kurds  inhabit an area spanning adjacent parts of modern-day Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Turkey. The largest concentration of Kurds is in southeast Turkey. About 18 percent of Turkey's population is Kurdish.

Q: While it appeared Kurds cooperated with the Turkish raid in Syria, relations between Turkey's government and its Kurdish minority are tense. That tension erupted in a brawl last week in Turkey's parliament in the capital . . .

A. Ankara

B. Baghdad

C. Istanbul

D. Damascus

A. Ankara is Turkey's capital, and Istanbul is its largest city. Kurdish militants have warned that peace negotiations with Turkey could be failing. Kurdish rebels fought 30 years for greater autonomy in Turkey. Turkey had objected to U.S. military aid to the Kurds fighting the Islamic State, saying it was worried the arms could eventually be turned against Turkish forces.

Q: Besides Syria and Iraq, where have Islamic State forces been reported?

A. Afghanistan

B. Libya

C. Turkey

D. All of the above

D. Islamic State militants have been recruiting fighters in a power struggle with Taliban leaders in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Egypt recently bombed Islamic State forces in neighboring Libya. And, newspapers reported last week that intelligence officials said Islamic State militants had infiltrated Turkey and were plotting attacks.