KurdistanObserver.com
Turkey Tells US Its Troops Will Stay In Iraqi Kurdistan 'As
Long As Necessary'
Feb 28, 2008
ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey said Thursday its offensive against Kurdish guerrillas in
Iraqi Kurdistan will continue "as long as necessary," rejecting pressure
for a speedy end to the military incursion from US Defence Secretary Robert
Gates.
Even as Gates held talks in Ankara, Turkish warplanes bombed positions of the
Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) Iraqi Kurdistan and intensive fighting was
reported on the ground near a major guerrilla base in the Zap area, Iraqi
security sources said.
Turkish Defence Minister Vecdi Gonul refused to offer a timetable for a pull-out
while giving assurances that the incursion, launched on February 21, posed no
challenge to Iraqi sovereignity.
"Turkey will remain in northern Iraq as long as necessary," Gonul said after
talks with Gates, adding that the troops will return home once PKK hideouts are
destroyed.
"There is no need for us to stay there after we finish the terrorist
infrastructure... We have no intention to interfere in (Iraqi) domestic
politics, no intention to occupy any area," he said.
Gates pressed for the offensive to be "as short and precisely targeted as
possible," and reiterated that it should last no longer than "a week or two".
Washington is particularly concerned that the incursion could broaden into a
wider conflict between Turkish forces and the Kurdistan administrators of Iraqi
Kurdistan -- two key US allies.
Gates urged Ankara to consider political and economic improvements for its
sizeable Kurdish community to erode popular support for the PKK, which has
fought for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey since 1984.
"Military action alone will not end this threat... There must be simultaneous
efforts made with economic programs and political outreach.
"That's the only way to isolate PKK from the population and provide a long-term
solution to the problem," he said.
Gates played down suggestions the United States could cut off the intelligence
supply if Turkey refuses to withdraw quickly.
"We have shared interests and I think those interests are probably not advanced
by making threats or by threatening to cut intelligence," he said.
Gates is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President
Abdullah Gul and Chief of General Staff Yasar Buyukanit before returning to
Washington later Thursday.
The Turkish army says it has so far killed at least 230 PKK militants and
destroyed dozens of rebel hideouts, camps and ammunition depots, while losing 27
men.
The PKK says to have killed around 100 soldiers, lost five and to have downed a
Turkish attack helicopter.
