AFRIN, Syria 

Turkish officials delivered sports equipment on Thursday to several schools in Syria's northern town of Afrin.

Continuing efforts to help young people in the district after its liberation from YPG/PKK terrorists in 2018, authorities from Turkey’s southern Hatay province distributed supplies from footballs and ping pong tables to backpacks and jerseys to students.

Turkey has also opened football and basketball courses for students and organized sports competitions across the district.

Turkish officials also announced that two football pitches and one sports complex under renovation were soon to be completed.

Since 2016, Turkey’s Euphrates Shield and Olive Branch operations in northwestern Syria have liberated the region -- including Al-Bab, Afrin, and Azaz -- from YPG/PKK and Daesh terrorists, making it possible for Syrians who fled the violence there to return home.

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 some 40,000 people, including women and children. The YPG is its Syrian branch.

Reporting by Omer Koparan and Burak Karacaoglu:Writing by Vakkas Dogantekin