Authorities in Turkey are cracking down on citizens who’ve used social media to criticize the nation’s ongoing military offensive against a Kurdish enclave in Syria.
The Turkish Interior Ministry said Monday that 311 people have been arrested since the offensive began for “spreading terrorist propaganda” online with posts disparaging Ankara’s military action.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has publicly called for national unity over the air and ground offensive against Kurdish militias in the northwestern Syrian region of Afrin. He’s also threatened to punish anyone who protests the military campaign.
Erdogan spokesman Ibrahim Kalin has urged the Turkish public and media outlets in the country to be careful of “lying, fake, distortive and provocative news, images and gossip,” according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The recent arrests mark one of the biggest crackdowns on dissent in the nation since Turkish authorities detained thousands accused of supporting Fethullah Gülen, a U.S.-based cleric whom the Erdogan government accuses of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup in Turkey.
Reuters reported Monday that politicians, journalists and activists are among the 311 people who’ve been detained by the government in recent days. It was unclear whether those arrested are predominantly Turkish Kurds.
An AFP report on the situation said the suspects have been taken into custody since the Turkish military campaign against the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units militia in Afrin began 10 days ago.
The Erdogan government calls the militia a “terrorist” offshoot of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) — a group characterized by the United States, Europe and Turkey as a bona fide terrorist organization. The PKK has been waging a three-decade insurgency against the Turkish state.
The Turkish military campaign in Afrin has been a source of tension with Washington, which has spent recent years providing support for various Kurdish militias in northwestern Syria to battle the Islamic State there.
The Trump administration’s announcement two weeks ago of a U.S. plan to continue backing Kurdish groups in the region was seen as a cause of outrage in Ankara. While American officials called on the Erdogan government not to take military action in Afrin, Turkish forces launched their campaign on Jan. 20.
• Guy Taylor can be reached at gtaylor@washingtontimes.com.
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