On January 20, Turkey launched a military offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish forces in the Afrin district of northern Syria. Ironically code-named "Operation Olive Branch," the offensive was proudly described by Turkish Parliament Speaker Ismail Kahraman as "jihad," a holy war, without which "there can be no progress."
Parroting this sentiment, both pro- and anti-government mainstream media outlets in Turkey endorsed the Afrin invasion, using similar jihadist slogans. One newspaper that did not do so was the Turkish Cypriot daily newspaper Afrika, which headlined its coverage of the offensive by comparing it to Turkey's 1974 invasion of Cyprus, which it called a "peace operation."
In a column criticizing Turkey's invasions in the region, the owner and editor of Afrika, Şener Levent, wrote: