Turkey's Ministry of Interior said 311 people have so far been detained for social media posts criticizing Turkey's military operation in the Kurdish enclave of Afrin in northern Syria.
The ministry's statement, made on 30 January, was quoted by the state-owned and strictly government-aligned Anatolia News Agency, but no details as to how many were arrested were available.
As the ministry's statement indicates, Turkey has been less than forgiving for any criticism of the Syria operation. Those detained included journalists and Peoples' Democratic Party (HDP), politicians. In the latest development, Turkish police on 31 January raided the homes of members of the Turkish Medical Association (TTB), detaining 11 doctors, for a public statement against the military campaign.
On 20 January, the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) launched an incursion into Afrin, a Kurdish enclave of Syria in an operation Turkey named the Olive Branch.The Turkish government says the People's Protection Units (YPG), which controls much of northeastern Syria, is an extension of the banned Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which Turkey considered a terrorist organization.
