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 White House Press Briefing by Dana Perino 10/18/07 (Turkey, Iraq and the PKK) — Thursday, October 18, 2007 — Q The Iraqi Prime Minister said today that his government would expect only limited Turkish air strikes in northern Iraq against the Kurdish rebels, and not an actual all-out offensive on the ground there. Could the U.S. live with that? MS. PERINO: Well, what we have said is that -- the President said yesterday what we want to see is for Turkey to not send additional troops into that region. The President said yesterday there's a small contingent there that have been there for a few years. That's been a longstanding presence. What you have now is the Americans and the Iraqis working together with the Turks to work together against the PKK, a terrorist organization, which we would like to see eradicated in the region as well. What was very positive was that Prime Minister Maliki send his Vice President, Hashimi, to Turkey yesterday in order to work with them. That's where you see -- that's what a good neighbor does. In the world of international politics, you want neighbors to be talking with one another and working together to solve problems. So I think that that is an encouraging sign, and we have asked Turkey to refrain from doing anything more. Q Can I follow on that? MS. PERINO: You want to follow? Okay. Q Turkey's justice minister says the President is basically being hypocritical by opposing Turkish military action in northern Iraq. He says the same justification the U.S. used to go after al Qaeda in Afghanistan is the justification that Turkey would use to go after the PKK in northern Iraq. MS. PERINO: I haven't seen the justice minister's comments. What I can say is that we have Ambassador Crocker, our ambassador in Iraq, and our ambassador into Turkey, as well as General Petraeus working closely with the Turks to help solve the problem. And also you have the Iraqis participating, as well. We think that's the way to help solve this issue. I understand that he's making a point about terrorists attacking their country, that this is something that the Iraqis and the Americans have said that they would help the Turks help eradicate, and to end the PKK terrorist influence in that region. And so we'll continue to try to work it that way. We don't think that a larger-scale incursion is necessary to help solve the problem. Q I think the point he's making is two-fold; one is a point of rights, and the other is that the efforts by the U.S. and Iraq have not solved the problem yet, and so Turkey -- MS. PERINO: Well, I think that we saw yesterday the Iraqis saying that they are going to work with the Turks, and they will redouble their efforts to help them. And I think that's the appropriate way to help solve this. Dana Perino | Iraq | Middle East | PKK | Press Briefing | Turkey | White House Press Corps Labels: Dana Perino, Iraq, Middle East, PKK, Press Briefing, Turkey, White House Press Corps
Posted by White House Press Corps @ 8:22:00 PM
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