Statements by U.S. Officials

US Defense Secretary Gates Speaks about Turkey at Recent Pentagon Briefing

March 5, 2008

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Q. Mr. Secretary, Lieutenant General Odierno was here yesterday and he was asked a question about Turkey's incursion into northern Iraq in late February. And in answer to that question, at some point Lieutenant General Odierno said, quote, "Obviously, there's pressure that has to be put on them, the PKK, so we can start to talk and have negotiations with these terrorist elements." I was wondering if it is a U.S. practice or policy to have talks with PKK terrorists.

SEC. GATES: Well, I don't know what General Odierno said or did not say, but I will tell you that when I was in Ankara last week, we talked a great deal about the importance of accompanying the security measures to go after these terrorists, the PKK terrorists, with efforts to try and address some of the civilian concerns among the Kurdish population, where they recruit people, where the PKK recruits people. And I think that both President Gul and Prime Minister Erdogan have both put forward proposals in the cultural, economic and political arenas to begin doing that. So I think it's a matter of doing both. I don't think that anybody -- certainly nobody I talk to was of a mind to have any conversations with the PKK. I think that the real objective is to peel away from the hard-core terrorists those who might be reconciled and brought back into the political fold.

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