Turkey Rebuffs US Call For Quick Iraq Exit

Team Infidel

Forum Spin Doctor
Financial Times
February 29, 2008 By Demetri Sevastopulo and Vincent Boland
Turkey declined to offer any assurances yesterday that its military incursion into northern Iraq would end quickly, despite US calls for the operation to be limited.
On a visit to Ankara, Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, urged the Turks to keep their action against Kurdish PKK rebels - now entering its second week - "as short and precisely targeted as possible", although he did not repeat earlier comments that it should last no more than two weeks.
General Yashar Buyukanit, Turkey's top military chief, appeared to dismiss Mr Gates's concerns, saying: "Short is a relative notion." He gave no hint of when his troops might withdraw and said the US "understands" the Turkish position.
Turkish political leaders also refused to say how long the incursion would last.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan, prime minister, said after meeting Mr Gates that troops would return "once the operation reached its goal", the Anatolian news agency reported.
Asked how Turkish officials responded to his urgings, Mr Gates said: "I think we'll see."
Turkish troops, backed by military jets, entered northern Iraq on February 21 in pursuit of PKK guerrillas who have carried out several deadly attacks inside Turkey in recent months. Ankara insists the operation targets only bases belonging to the Kurdish separatist group, which is branded a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the US and the European Union.
The US has been taken by surprise by the ferocity of the Turkish assault on the PKK. At least 230 rebels and 24 Turkish military personnel are reported to have died so far. Washington is also worried about the possibility of a clash between Turkey and the forces of the Kurdistan regional government that controls northern Iraq. Both are close US allies.
European diplomats said the apparent rift between Ankara and Washington suggested that Turkey wanted to be seen to be making its own decisions about when to withdraw its forces.
Mr Gates welcomed Turkey's dispatch of a diplomatic delegation to Baghdad this week, headed by a close aide to Mr Erdogan. But he also suggested that Ankara needed to be more transparent about the incursion and what it hoped to achieve.
"The Turkish government should make clear to the Iraqi government and everyone concerned exactly what their intentions are and the limited goals and scope of the operations," he said.
The Turkish operation has broad domestic support and is being facilitated, at least in part, by US intelligence sharing. But this cannot hide growing concerns in Washington that there might be more at stake in northern Iraq than Turkey's security.
Mr Gates said: "I believe there is a growing appreciation of the complexity of the situation to balance the right of Turkey to defend itself against the need to maintain Iraqi sovereignty and territorial integrity."
 
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