# Turkey launches Operation Olive Branch in Afrin

Date: 2018

## The fact

On 20 January 2018 Turkish armed forces and allied Syrian groups launched Operation Olive Branch into Afrin’s Kurdish-held area. [Erdoğan](/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan) announced the operation.

## Context

Ankara cited YPG/PKK threats. UN agencies later reported displacement. The presidency ordered; the general staff executed; SNA allies fought on the ground. He did not fire every artillery round.

Later Peace Spring 2019 is a neighbouring later operation. Libya 2020 is a different theatre.

The president of Turkey is head of state and, since the 2017 executive-presidency reform, head of government. The Grand [National Assembly](/organizations/national-assembly) writes statutes; the Official Gazette records decrees; courts, governors, and the armed forces implement. He does not write a European Council conclusion, an IMF programme, or a UN General Assembly resolution.

## Evidence and sources

Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye carries the official instrument or communique. Reuters records the same dated act independently.

## Significance

The path is forced displacement and [humanitarian access](/drivers/humanitarian-access): a completed cross-border offensive produces civilian flight.

## What is established and what is not

Established: a 20 January 2018 start of Olive Branch, announced by the presidency and independently reported.

Not established: a unique first-week death coefficient, or that every later Syrian displacement was this operation.

What would change the picture: a contradictory original with a different date or name, a later repeal, a court that vacated the instrument, or a measured series that can be argued, with lag and alternatives, as a consequence of this instrument rather than of later institutions.

The date is the date of this instrument, not a licence to back-date every later harm or benefit.

The general staff executed. Allied Syrian groups fought locally.. A later repeal, court stay, or successor order would be a different Fact with a different date. That pair identifies Turkey launches Operation Olive Branch in Afrin, not a later speech about Turkey launches Operation Olive Branch in Afrin.

Co-authors and later implementers named in Context remain on the file. Turkey launches Operation Olive Branch in Afrin on 2018-01-20 is not a licence to treat every later Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye communique as this same act. If a later repeal, stay, or successor decree exists, it needs its own date and its own row. This dossier refuses to average Turkey launches Operation Olive Branch in Afrin into a personality. The contribution described on this Person row is limited to He ordered the operation as president and commander-in-chief. The general staff executed. Allied Syrian groups fought locally. That limit is the alternative to treating office-holding as authorship of every later series. The Grand National Assembly, the Official Gazette, governors, courts, and foreign counterparties share specific files. Allegation is not a completed judgment. A detention is not a conviction.

## People

- Recep Tayyip Erdoğan: https://factrail.ai/people/recep-tayyip-erdogan

## Drivers

- Forced-Displacement Scale: https://factrail.ai/drivers/forced-displacement-scale
- Humanitarian Access: https://factrail.ai/drivers/humanitarian-access

## Sources

- https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mideast-crisis-syria-turkey-idUSKBN1F90Q5
- https://www.tccb.gov.tr/

## Methodology

https://factrail.ai/methodology

Canonical: https://factrail.ai/facts/tr-olive-branch-2018