ANKARA - The Turkish army's ground incursion against separatist Kurdish terrorists in northern Iraq is limited in scope, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.
"The target, purpose, size and parameters of this operation are limited," Erdogan said in televised remarks, underlining that the incursion targeted only terrorists of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party.
"Our armed forces will come back in the shortest time possible as soon as they achieve their objectives," he added.
Erdogan said he had telephoned both US President George W. Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to inform them of the operation.
The Turkish leader stressed that Ankara had no designs on Iraq's territorial integrity.
"We have no objective other than to protect our citizens, our borders, our unity and integrity," he said.
The Turkish army said in a statement Friday that troops, backed by fighter jets, crossed into northern Iraq late Thursday to hunt down PKK, who have been fighting since 1984 for Kurdish self-rule in Turkey's southeast.
Ankara charges that some 4,000 terrorists have found refuge in the Kurdish-held autonomous north of Iraq and use the region as a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory.
han/gh
02/22/2008 14:22 GMT