ISTANBUL, 2 March 2008 — Turkey’s top general said the country’s troop withdrawal from Iraq had nothing to do with US calls to keep the cross-border campaign against Kurdish rebels as short as possible, a newspaper reported yesterday. Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said withdrawal had already begun when US Defense Secretary Robert Gates asked on Thursday for a quick end to Turkey’s military operation in northern Iraq against separatist rebels of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, Milliyet newspaper reported.
Turkey withdrew is troops from northern Iraq on Friday, eight days after the ground incursion was launched to hit the rebels, who use their bases in northern Iraq as a launch pad for hit-and-run attacks on Turkish targets. “This decision (for withdrawal) was made due to military reasons only,” Buyukanit was quoted as saying.
US President George W. Bush also asked Turks to “move, move quickly, achieve their objective and get out.” Turkey declined on Thursday to set a timetable for withdrawal, saying troops would pull out once the job was done. Buyukanit said timing of the pullout was decided before Gates’ arrival in the Turkish capital of Ankara on Wednesday, Milliyet reported.
He said troops had already started returning when Gates was in Ankara, the newspaper said. “But announcing a withdrawal then would be a murder. Announcing withdrawal is equivalent of telling those terrorists there to set up their traps and ambushes,” Milliyet quoted him as saying.
Iraqi Kurdish villagers yesterday expressed joy at the end of Turkey’s eight-day military operation inside northern Iraq, but many said they were worried that Ankara’s soldiers could return. “Thank God! They withdrew their troops from our soil,” said Esmail Kojer, 73, at his farm near the village of Qarawola, a mere 100 meters from the Iraq-Turkey border.
The village, known for its almonds, grapes and citrus trees, is home to 70 Iraqi Kurdish families. Family members hugged each other in joy as news of the Turkish withdrawal spread. “The last thing we need in this country is Turkish troops staying for a long time,” Kojer told AFP. “We have suffered the most from the devastation caused by Turkey ... suffered from its tyranny, and we are fed up with its presence.”
Other Qarawola villagers echoed Kojer’s view. “Thank God, they left voluntarily,” said Mateen Berwari, a Kurdish Peshmerga. “Otherwise we would have thrown them off our soil. We do not want our land to be occupied by anyone,” he added.
“The Turks must solve this problem peacefully and not through force. History is the proof that force does not help resolve problems — it only complicates them.” He attributed Ankara’s decision to pull out its troops to sustained pressure from Washington. The US does not want to complicate the situation in Iraq. This is the only safe place in Iraq,” Berwari said.
Shirin Sendi, 28, a teacher in the village’s only primary school, could not control her joy at the news, since the steady fighting and explosions in the region had scared her students. “My students used to hide under the tables whenever there were explosions. You have no idea how happy I am. I can’t describe my feelings as I too was terrified,” she said.
