Servet Gunerigok
10 October 2019•Update: 10 October 2019
WASHINGTON
A false Greenpeace social media video vilified the U.S. president for his abrupt move to pull back troops in northeastern Syria before Turkey's anti-terror operation there.
The video was posted Wednesday on Twitter, three days after the White House announced Donald Trump decision on the troop withdrawal which has drawn stiff resistance from Capitol Hill.
"Betrayed and Murdered Kurdish People" read the sign atop the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.
The doctored video, posted by a user named Paul Lidicul, has been viewed more than 2.8 million times and retweeted more than 40,000 times with 112,000 likes.
AFP Fact Check was the first to report the 22-second video, saying it was viewed more than 1.2 million times within six hours.
"Happening right now at the Trump Tower Hotel in Las Vegas. #KurdsBetrayedByTrump," the post read.
Twitter has not responded to an Anadolu Agency request for comment.
In response to the fake post, Greenpeace USA on Twitter said it is a "computer generated animation and not executed" by the Greenpeace.
AFP Fact Check also said the video was viewed thousands of times on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
However, this not the first time such a video has been doctored.
In June, Twitter user Paul Lee Ticks posted a video of a computer-generated banner that reads "Concentration Camps!" waving from the same hotel, referring to China's persecution of its Uighur population.
Ticks told AFP on July 7 that he filmed the original video and edited it to include the banner.
Hours before the post, Turkey launched Operation Peace Spring east of the Euphrates River in northern Syria after Trump announced the withdrawal of U.S. troops from "the immediate area."
Ankara wants to secure its borders by eliminating terrorist elements from PKK and its Syrian offshoot, PYD-YPG, and to ensure the safe return of Syrian refugees as well as Syria’s territorial integrity.
In its more than 30-year terror campaign against Turkey, the PKK -- listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the U.S. and the EU -- has been responsible for the deaths of 40,000 people, including women, children, and infants.
