Turkish officials say authorities have detained 311 people for allegedly engaging in "terrorist propaganda" through social media postings critical of Turkey's military offensive into the Syrian Kurdish enclave of Afrin.

An Interior Ministry statement on Monday says the suspects, who are accused of supporting the Syrian Kurdish militia, were detained in the past week. It didn't provide further details.

Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, an extension of its outlawed Kurdish rebels fighting within Turkey and has branded the Syrian group as a terrorist organization. Ankara launched a military operation codenamed Olive Branch on Jan. 20 to clear YPG fighters from Afrin.

The Paris-based media watchdog Reporters Without Borders has criticized the detentions as the Turkish government's "witch hunt against critics."