* Protest convoy brought together on Facebook
* Activists want to draw attention to strife-torn Syria
By Daren Butler
KILIS, Turkey, Jan 12 (Reuters) - Syrian expatriates from Europe, North America and the Arab world set off from Turkey in a protest convoy on Thursday, headed for the Syrian border to draw attention to the plight of people in their strife-torn homeland.
Up to 150 activists, brought together by a campaign on the social networking website Facebook, left the southeastern city of Gaziantep in buses and cars, carrying token relief supplies of blankets, medicine and food.
The United Nations estimates more than 5,000 people have been killed during a crackdown by the Syrian authorities on an uprising against the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Syria says it is fighting foreign-backed "terrorists" and 2,000 soldiers and police have been killed.
"We want to go to Syria to show to the whole world what is happening in Syria," said Moayad Skaif, a 30-year-old Syrian journalist from Qatar on one of "Freedom Convoy to Syria" coaches.
"Assad does not want the truth to come out," he added.
Turkey's foreign ministry told Reuters it had been in touch with people in the convoy but did not say whether Turkey supported the campaign.
NATO member Turkey shares a 900 km (550 mile) long border with Syria. Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has criticised Syria's crackdown, called on former ally Assad to step down and slapped sanctions on Damascus.
Turkey is also hosting several thousand refugees, including members of the rebel Syrian Free Army, at camps, while the opposition Syrian National Council meets regularly in Istanbul.
Convoy oganisers were unsure whether they would be allowed to cross the border, given the deteriorating security situation.
Turkish police stopped the convoy outside the town of Kilis, about 15 km from the Oncupinar border crossing on Thursday. The provincial governor offered to take a small group of activists to the border to see if they could pass.
The activists told Reuters they intended to set up a camp close to the border if they were stopped.
Samir Jisri, a computer graphics teacher from Toronto, said he wanted to return to the country he left as an infant.
"The Syrian revolution is an orphaned revolution because nobody is sticking up for it, not even the Arab League," said Jisri, 35. "The last hope we have is Turkey."
Belal Dalati, a 42-year-old Syrian businessman from California, said his cousin had been shot dead in the Syrian town of Zabadina, near the Lebanese border last week.
"We are watching people dying, women, children and the elderly too are getting killed in this conflict ... just because the regime wants to stay in power," Dalati said. "We are calling for foreign military intervention, creating a safe zone for people to flee and for a free army to be organized." (Writing by Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
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