The Turkish news agency Anadolu has reported that the "Afrin lies" propaganda launched by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and the Kurdish Democratic Union Party (PYD) is allegedly "coming to a saturation point."
According to Anadolu, the PKK and the PYD, blacklisted by Turkey as terrorist organizations, are allegedly continuing to use fake photographs on social networks to illustrate events which are taking place during Turkey's Operation Olive Branch in the northern Syrian district of Afrin.
Anadolu has claimed that the past three days have seen the publication of at least ten pictures that were shot long before Operation Olive Branch began.
As an example, the news agency referred to a photograph with a caption "kids are being targeted by the Turkish army," which Anadolu claimed was actually taken during an alleged airstrike in Syria on January 1, 2017.
Another picture shows a mother and her two children allegedly injured during Operation Olive Branch, Anadolu said, claiming that the photo was allegedly taken on December 16, 2013.
PYD/PKK #Afrin lies on social media sign of desperation https://t.co/CEiiwU8NhN pic.twitter.com/grBzPZxb4R
— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) 24 января 2018 г.
One more photo, titled "the YPG [the Kurdish People's Protection Units] killed many Turkish soldiers and their bodies will be delivered by a truck trailer," is in fact a photograph which Anadolu claims is "a picture from a truck company's website."
#фото ребенка на носилках, размещенное в #Twitter и подписанное «#Турция бомбит мирное население Африна», датируется 29 августа 2017 года и было сделано на севере Сирии в момент атаки на город Сирийских демократических сил. #Африн #фейк #Сирия #ДЕАШ #Afrin #Turkey #Syria pic.twitter.com/ivM8lqzrvx
— ANADOLU AGENCY (RU) (@aa_russian) 23 января 2018 г.
This photo of a child on a stretcher titled "Turkey bombs the peaceful population of Afrin" actually dates back to August 29, 2017, according to Anadolu.
PYD/PKK's social media propaganda: 4 photos, 4 lies
— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) 23 января 2018 г.
Four photographs, which were claimed to be taken during the operation in Syria’s northwestern Afrin region, have turned out to be old photos that were taken during different incidents in the past https://t.co/Hasi0IUMK3 pic.twitter.com/KS1SbVtqH3
WARNING: The following video is graphic and may offend sensibilities
#Video | PYD/PKK Afrin lies on social media sign of desperation pic.twitter.com/hkRJQkdrd1
— ANADOLU AGENCY (ENG) (@anadoluagency) 24 января 2018 г.
On January 20, the Turkish Armed Forces' General Staff announced the beginning of Operation Olive Branch against the Kurdish forces in Syria's Afrin district.
Located in the northwest of Syria on the border with Turkey, Afrin is part of the Syrian Kurdish region commonly known as Rojava. Ankara blacklists the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) controlling Afrin as a terrorist organization linked to the PKK which is banned in Turkey.
Ankara had more than once threatened to launch an invasion in Afrin after Washington moved to start training a border protection force which would include the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) affiliated with the YPG.
