Terror supporters continue anti-Turkey campaign

By Enes Canli

ANKARA (AA) - Terror supporters through a disinformation campaign on social media are attacking Turkey's Operation Peace Spring.

They continue using photographs of a different scene and time to undermine Turkey's peace efforts in northern Syria.

A case in point is a photo shared on social media of phosphorous bombings during the 2017 U.S. operations in Iraq's Mosul. The social media account which shared the image falsely attributed it to Turkey's ongoing operation -- and it also supports Saleh Muslim, a so-called former leader of PYD/PKK.

"Turkey's army, unfortunately, used prohibited phosphorous bombs in Ras Al-ayn," the account tweeted.

Also, a photo taken during Morocco’s historic Green March in 1975 was wrongly linked to the Turkish operation.

Similarly, an Aug. 17, 2019 photo of a man holding a dead baby and a November 2018 photo of Saudi Arabia’s operations in Yemen were falsely linked to Turkey's ongoing action against terrorists.

The fake images included a December 2016 photograph of children looking at the sky and a February 2018 photo of a screaming girl in Syria.

A close shot of a child covered in dust captured by Anadolu Agency's photographer Jawad al Rifai was also wrongly attributed to the Turkish operation.

Turkey on Wednesday launched Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist elements and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees and Syria’s territorial integrity.

Ankara wants to eliminate terrorist elements of the PKK and its Syrian offshoot, the PYD/YPG, from the region.

In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the European Union -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.

*Writing by Burak Bir