Region | Iraq
No timetable for pullout, Turkey envoy tells Iraq
Turkey declined on Wednesday to give Baghdad a timetable for the withdrawal of troops fighting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, resisting pressure from the United States and other allies to end the offensive quickly.
- Reuters
- Published: 00:39 February 28, 2008
- Image Credit: EPA
- Turkish soldiers get ready during an operation against the Kurdistan Workers' Party in an undisclosed place.
Baghdad: Turkey declined on Wednesday to give Baghdad a timetable for the withdrawal of troops fighting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq, resisting pressure from the United States and other allies to end the offensive quickly.
"Our objective is clear, our mission is clear and there is no timetable until ... those terrorist bases are eliminated," Turkish envoy Ahmet Davutoglu told a news conference after talks in Baghdad with Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.
Thousands of Turkish troops crossed the border last week to root out PKK fighters. The PKK has used northern Iraq as a base for their fight for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey.
Acting Iraqi Prime Minister Barham Saleh said a prolonged Turkish operation would lead to "dire" consequences for the region and repeated Baghdad's demand that the incursion end.
'Dangerous situation'
"This would be highly destabilising, it's dangerous to the stability of Iraq and the region as a whole," Saleh, a Kurd, said on the sidelines of a conference. "This is a very dangerous, precarious situation."
Turkey's military General Staff said another 77 Kurdistan Workers Party rebels had been killed in heavy fighting since Tuesday night, taking the death toll among the rebels to 230 since the offensive began.
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