Kurds in Malta gathered outside the Turkish embassy in Floriana on Saturday to protest what they called a "brutal, unprovoked assault" by the Turkish state on Kurdish communities in northern Syria. 

Moviment Graffitti, which supported the protest, said Turkey's invasion of the Rojava region had resulted in the "massacre" of Kurds and their displacement on a mass scale. 

The operation, it said, was clearly driven by a "hatred of Kurds" and a desire to destroy "the egalitarian and democratic model being built in Rojava".

Turkey launched an offensive last week in northeast Syria against a Kurdish militia which is backed by western countries in the fight against the Islamic State group, but which Ankara accuses of terrorism.

The week-old military operation has displaced more than 300,000 civilians, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory.

Moviment Graffitti said the invasion threatened to revises the Islamic State insurgency, as thousands of fighters held in camps guarded by Kurdish forces would take the opportunity to flee and reconstitute terrorist cells. 

"We called upon the world to take action and stop the invasion of Rojava, the ongoing massacre of communities in this area and the renewed ISIS threat brought about by the Turkish government’s actions," the group said.

"We also urged the Maltese Government to honour its Constitutional obligation to actively work for peace by informing the Turkish ambassador that Malta forcefully opposes the Turkish invasion of Rojava."