SLEMANI – The media centre of the People’s Protection Units (YPG) on Thursday denied media claims that a huge YPG convoy travelled to the city of Afrin. According to the YPG statement, it was 2,000 civilians on Monday travelled to Afrin to protest against the Turkish attacks on Afrin.



Thousands of civilians travelled from several cities in northern Syria and Rojava, and even the city of Sinjar in Iraq, on Monday through the regime-controlled road from Manbij to Afrin, in order to protest against Turkish attacks that so far claimed over 148 civilian lives.



The protestors also travelled to the town of Jindiris in Afrin that was heavily affected by the Turkish shelling, carrying olive branches, and shouting ‘Afrin has been victorious’.



“Throughout the past couple of days, the media has been flooded with the reports regarding a massive convoy consisting of hundreds of cars and buses heading to Afrin. According to a source in Aleppo: "the convoy went through the town of Manbij to the government lines, where they were freely allowed to use the roads to the Afrin region”, the YPG said.



“However, numerous reports argue that the convoy, in fact, contains a great number of YPG fighters, students forced into participation and, according to some, even around 500 'terrorists' linked to the PKK. The claims of US-trained Raqqa security forces being spotted on their way to Afrin have also been present," the YPG statement added.



However, the YPG said although it’s true that the vehicles making their way from Hasakah and Kobani contain around 2000 people, ‘the occurrence can in no way be considered a military mobilization.’



"The reason for such claim lies in the fact that the majority of the persons participating are either civilian supporters of the YPG or simply all those who oppose the Turkish invasion of Afrin. The nature of this feat is not offensive. On the contrary, such exploit primarily serves the purpose of simply showing solidarity with Afrin – the city that is, for over two weeks now, suffering relentless attacks at the hands of Turkey," the YPG stated.



"Even though the Turkish General Staff claims that „the ongoing operation aims to secure northern Syria's border region with Turkey and protect the civilian population from YPG terrorists“, most of those massacred throughout the duration of the „Operation Olive Branch“ were none other than civilian men, women and children,” the YPG said.



The YPG said the media reports attempted to "portray the YPG as a terrorist army that forces unsuspecting civilians to participate in its operations only prompts the world to remain silent and further enables Turkey in its efforts to destroy the Afrin Canton and murder the people within it."



"Switching the media narrative regarding this event from that of a ‘solidarity action’ to that of an ‘armed mobilization’ only takes away from the most important issue and yet again renders the possibility of any foreign reaction almost non-existent. At this moment, it is most important to focus on saving lives of civilians who die in Turkish airstrikes every day. It is important to see that if the attacks do not stop, armed resistance is necessary, but it still only serves a defensive purpose," the YPG said.



"The people of Rojava did not form the convoy in question for YPG to ‘even out the score’ with Turkey. It is there to show the sheer number of people resisting this crime against humanity and sending a powerful message – The attacks must stop. The people of Rojava want peace," the YPG concluded.