Gates to Turks: Stop military ops in Iraq soon

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Turkish commandos are seen during an operation at an undisclosed location on the Turkish-Iraqi border. Turkish troops have killed 77 Kurdish rebels in night-long clashes in northern Iraq, the military said Feb. 27. Five Turkish soldiers were also killed.


Gates to Turks: Stop military ops in Iraq soon
By Lolita C. Baldor - The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Feb 27, 2008 21:15:21 EST

ANKARA, Turkey — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Wednesday that Turkey should remove its troops from northern Iraq in the next few days, sending a strong message that U.S. patience is running out on the operation targeting Kurdish insurgents.

Gates said he would ask Turkish leaders in a series of meetings Thursday to address some of the complaints of the Kurds, and move from combat to economic and political initiatives to solve differences with them.

“It’s very important that the Turks make this operation as short as possible and then leave,” Gates said late Wednesday from India before heading to Turkey. “They have to be mindful of Iraqi sovereignty. I measure quick in terms of days, a week or two, something like that, not months.”

It was the first time that the Pentagon chief put any time limit on the Turkish incursion launched into Iraq last Thursday against separatist rebels from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK. The rebels are fighting for autonomy in the largely Kurdish region of southeastern Turkey, and have carried out attacks from northern Iraq. Overnight, Turkish troops killed more than 70 Kurdish rebels, the Turkish military said.

A Turkish official insisted that the aim of a military incursion into northern Iraq “is clear and limited” against Kurdish rebels and said no timetable will be set “until the terrorist bases are eliminated.” Ahmet Davutoglu, chief foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, made the comments at a joint news conference in Baghdad on Wednesday with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.


Rest of article at: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/02/ap_gates_022708/