Starting January 20th, the Turkish government under President Recep Erdogan launched Operation Olive Branch. As many as 500 people including 142 civilians are estimated to have died following cross-border shelling and airstrikes on Kurd-populated Afrin in the north west region of Syria. President Erdogan justifies this offensive as self-defence against terrorists, but may there be ulterior motives to the Turkish military's aggression.
In this interview conducted two weeks into the offensive by veteran CKUW programmer Michael Welch, two guests from the Kurdish-Canadian community in Winnipeg share their thoughts about what is behind this offensive and what Canadians can do to ameliorate the crisis. This interview aired on the morning news show People of Interest on Tuesday February 6th.