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UK urges Turkey to leave Iraq as early as possible

Written by Administrator

Friday, 22 February 2008

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain urged Turkey on Friday to leave Iraqi territory as early as possible after thousands of Turkish troops crossed into the north of the country to hunt for Kurdish PKK guerrillas.

"We would urge Turkey to withdraw from Iraqi territory as early as possible and take the greatest possible care to avoid causing harm to the civilian population," a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.

US: Land operation a whole new level

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Matthew Bryza said today a land operation by Turkish troops into northern Iraq represents "a whole new level" in the fight against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Responding to a question from Today's Zaman on a Turkish ground offensive into northern Iraq that began on Thursday evening, Bryza said Washington had been cooperating fully with Turkey in providing intelligence on PKK positions in northern Iraq since last November to enable the Turkish air force to make pinpoint attacks and minimize civilian casualties.

"What I can say is the US has lived up to its pledges, finally, to defeat terrorist PKK elements in northern Iraq as well as in Turkey. As you know, that happened when President Bush met Prime Minister Erdoğan on November 5th in Washington and agreed that the US would share intelligence that would allow the Turkish military to identify PKK terrorists and attack them. Since then we have had a very successful record of cooperation," Bryza said, adding: "We have … worked out specific procedures to ensure that those attacks are limited just to counterterrorist operations and that damage caused to property or harm to innocent civilians is minimized. Those goals have been achieved relatively well up until now."

President George W. Bush had promised Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan at a Nov. 5 meeting to share information that would enable the Turkish military to identify PKK terrorists in Iraq and attack them.

"A land operation is a whole new level and I obviously need to find out more to be more specific. What I can say is that what we have been doing until now has gone quite well. I am very pleased my government has finally fulfilled our commitment to Turkey to eliminate the terror threat, which is for Turkey the number-one national security concern," Bryza said.

Kurdish rebels say battle Turk troops in N.Iraq

SULAIMANIYA, Iraq, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Kurdish rebels clashed on Friday with Turkish troops who entered northern Iraq to hunt down the separatist guerrillas, a spokesman for the rebels said.

"There are severe clashes. Two Turkish soldiers have been killed and eight wounded. There are no PKK casualties," Ahmed Danees, head of foreign relations for the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), told Reuters by satellite phone from an undisclosed location.

He said the fighting was taking place in the Zagros mountains in an area where the borders of Turkey, Iran and Iraq meet.

(Baghdad newsroom)

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Last Updated ( Friday, 22 February 2008 )

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