February 28, 2008 | By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. and MARK MAZZETTI
BAGHDAD —" Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates urged Turkish leaders on Wednesday to abandon their invasion of guerrilla-controlled lands in the northernmost reaches of Iraq by mid-March.
American and Iraqi leaders seem increasingly worried that fighting along the Turkey-Iraq border could widen into a broader and bloodier conflict.
“It’s very important that the Turks make this operation as short as possible and then leave,” Mr. Gates told reporters in New Delhi on Wednesday as he prepared to leave for Turkey.
His words reflected the Bush administration’s sharper tone toward the Turkish government over the cross-border raids and stood in contrast to earlier American statements backing the Turks in their operations against guerrillas from the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, known as the P.K.K., the initials of the group’s name in Kurdish.
“I measure quick in terms of days, a week or two, something like that, not months,” Mr. Gates said. It was the first time he had demanded a strict timeline for the Turkish operation to end.
The Turkish military has vowed to destroy the havens inside Iraq that P.K.K. fighters have long used to stage attacks and assassinations in Turkey. Last week, the Turks carried out their most ambitious operation against the guerrillas in years, with what Turkish news reports described as thousands of troops.
Turkey claims that it has killed 230 P.K.K. guerrillas since last Thursday, including 77 rebels since Tuesday. Ahmed Denis, a P.K.K. spokesman, scoffed at the Turkish numbers and said more than 100 Turkish soldiers had been killed. Neither claim could be independently verified.
American officials have supported the right of Turkey, a crucial NATO ally, to defeat the P.K.K., which the United States classifies as a terrorist organization. The United States has also been providing intelligence to the Turks about the guerrillas.
Turkey has sometimes sent troops over the border in temporary “hot pursuit” raids against guerrillas. But this is the first time that American officials have been so adamant about urging a Turkish withdrawal.
Though the Turkish invasion has been limited so far, Iraqi officials say they fear what it could become. The Iraqi cabinet issued a statement on Tuesday night condemning the operation as a violation of Iraqi sovereignty and warning that “unilateral military action is not acceptable.”
But, publicly at least, the Turks show no sign of letting up. Ahmet Davutoglu, a senior adviser to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said Wednesday that there was no “timetable” for ending the operation. Meeting in Baghdad with Iraq’s foreign minister, Hoshyar Zebari, Mr. Davutoglu warned that the operation would not stop until P.K.K. bases inside Iraq were “eliminated.”
Mr. Gates’s stop in Turkey had been planned long before Turkish troops entered Iraq, and aides to the defense secretary said he considered canceling the visit once the raids began. But, they said, he decided to deliver the administration’s message in meetings with Turkish leaders.
“Military activity alone will not solve this terrorist problem for Turkey,” Mr. Gates said.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. reported from Baghdad, and Mark Mazzetti from New Delhi and Ankara, Turkey. Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Sulaimaniya, Iraq.
Richard A. Oppel Jr. reported from Baghdad, and Mark Mazzetti from New Delhi and Ankara, Turkey. Sebnem Arsu contributed reporting from Istanbul, and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Sulaimaniya, Iraq.