Twitter reactions to Turkey’s Operation Peace Spring

Turkey has launched ‘Operation Peace Spring’ (Baris Pinari) in northern Syria on Wednesday. The decision comes at the heels of US President Donald Trump’s announcement on the withdrawal of US troops from northern Syria.

Turkey says the operation aims to clear the region of YPG/PKK terrorists. 

Here’s what some Twitter users had to say about the operation.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tweeted on October 5 using the hashtag: ‘Time to hit the road again’. He wrote “We did our preparations, we completed our operation plans, we gave the necessary orders. Maybe today, maybe tomorrow, it will be time to pave the way for peace springs.

The Turkish military has also tweeted that it had completed preparations for Operation Peace Spring before it started on Tuesday.

The user ‘medya adami’ wrote that: “[Turkish soldiers] are not in Syria for petrol but to put a smile on [Syrian] children’s faces, to build their future.”

A parody/anonymous account by the name Hrant Enveryan defined the primary purpose and aim of Operation Peace Spring as: securing Turkey’s border, to secure Turkish citizens’ lives, to prevent a terror corridor from going all the way to the Mediterranean, and to safely repatriate millions of suffering Syrians to their homeland.

He has also noted that the PKK/YPG-PYD “is not a Kurdish movement but on the contrary a terrorist organisation that also murders Kurds.”

Another hashtag, ‘Kurds side with Turkey’ was popular with supporters of Operation Peace Spring.

Some were approving of the operation but not Erdogan. IYI Party Istanbul MP Umit Ozdag tweeted “The duty to destroy PKKistan came to life as a result of Erdogan’s faulty policy of trying to take down [Syrian leader Bashir] Assad and now this falls on the shoulders of the Turkish army. The Turkish soldier will pay with his blood and life and abolish the results of political mistakes. May God watch over our army.”

Opposition leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu posted a tweet asking seven pointed questions to Erdogan, including one that sought to find out why Syria, once a friend, is now an enemy. “Who told you to interfere with Syria’s internal affairs?” he demanded.

Journalist Caglar Cilara posted a tweet arguing against military action against the PKK/YPG.

Cilara wrote: “To say no to war does not mean you’re a supporter of terrorist organisations. To criticise [the governing] AK Party’s foreign policy, does not mean siding with the PKK. [Turkish] citizens are wondering about what goes on in Syria. To question this, to query, is not being a traitor. It is also your duty to listen to those who say ‘No to War’.

Others argued with those who opposed Operation Peace Spring. Tugce Kazaz, a former model and actress, wrote: “‘You say ‘No to war!’” But why did PKK and its extensions receive 30 thousand trucks full of weapons, to attack whom? Who is the target of a godless terror organisation that has been nurtured by the West for the past 40 years? Whoever opposes Turkey’s operation to secure its border is either a vile traitor or a total idiot.”