Second Turkish soldier at PM’s dinner table killed by ISIL in Syria

ISTANBUL

Uslu is seen sitting to the left of the PM during the latter’s visit to Gaziantep and Specialist Sgt. Selim Topal was on the right side of Yıldırım.

A second soldier who sat at Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım’s New Year’s dinner table in December 2016 was killed in an Islamic State Iraq and Levant (ISIL) attack on Feb. 8 during the ongoing Euphrates Shield operation in northern Syria, according to the Turkish Armed Forces. 

Mahmut Uslu, who attended to dinner during the prime minister’s New Year’s Eve visit to a base in the southeastern province of Gaziantep, was among five soldiers killed in recent attacks. 

In a widely shared photo, Uslu was pictured sitting to the left of the PM during the latter’s visit to Gaziantep. 
Previously, Specialist Sgt. Selim Topal, who was on the right side of Yıldırım in the photo, was killed in another ISIL attack on Jan. 20.

During the New Year’s Eve visit, Yıldırım had dinner with soldiers and called Uslu’s mother in Ankara to wish her a happy new year.

The soldier’s mother, Mürşide Uslu, said she missed her son and said she wanted him to come home, with the soldier responding that the homeland was more important.

Yıldırım said her son had been entrusted to them and that they were fine at the base.

Mahmut Uslu’s father, Ali Uslu, was a police officer who reportedly died in a gun battle with drug gangs 25 years ago.