ISTANBUL - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Tuesday for a timetable for the withdrawal of US-led forces from Iraq, saying it would help ease the insurgency in Turkey's war-torn neighbour.
"I would find an immediate withdrawal wrong, but I believe that the announcement of a timetable and the withdrawal of coalition forces in line with that timetable would stop what is almost a civil war in Iraq," Erdogan said.
Speaking at the annual assembly of the International Press Institute in Istanbul, he argued that coalition forces should pull out after Iraq has established a "lasting administration and its own security forces".
Turkey is wary that the bloody insurgency in its southern neighbour could lead to the break-up of the country.
Ankara fears that Iraq's possible break-up would result in the emergence of an independent Kurdish state in the north, which in turn, would fuel separatist ambitions among the already restive Kurdish minority in adjoining southeast Turkey.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush vetoed a bill tying war funding to a timetable to begin withdrawing the 145,000 US troops now in Iraq from October.
Bush argues that withdrawal must depend on security conditions in Iraq, and that setting an arbitrary deadline would be dangerous.
05/15/2007 14:19 GMT