Published: February 24, 2008 12:26 am      

Gates: Military action won’t solve rebel problem

CANBERRA, Australia — Turkey’s military assault into northern Iraq will not solve the terrorist problem there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday, calling for greater political and economic initiatives by the Turks to win over supporters of the Kurdish rebels.

Speaking as the Turkish military continued its first major ground incursion into Iraq since 2003, Gates said it will take a broader approach, similar to U.S. and coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, to erode support for the rebel Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq. And he called on the Turks to bring a quick end to the incursion.

“I think all our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan shows us that while dealing with a terrorist problem does require security operations, it also requires economic and political initiatives,” Gates told reporters. He said a consistent message from the U.S. to the Turkish government is that military efforts must be supplemented by other political and economic outreach to Kurds.

“After a certain point people become inured to military attacks,” he said, “and if you don’t blend them with these kinds of nonmilitary initiatives, then at a certain point the military efforts become less and less effective.”

Gates, who is wrapping up a three-day visit to Australia, said the U.S. has continued to provide the Turks with intelligence for its military operations. And, noting that Turkey warned the U.S.-backed Iraqi government of the incursion, he said such communication and coordination must continue.

“In terms of the current operation,” Gates added, “I would hope it would be short, that it would be precise and avoid the loss of innocent life, and that they leave as quickly as they can accomplish the mission.”

He would not specify how soon he hoped the Turks would halt the assault, saying only, “The shorter the better.”

The Turks have consistently complained that the Iraqis and the U.S. have not done enough to combat the PKK’s guerrilla operations, as rebels carry out attacks on Turkey from bases in the heavily mountainous Kurdish region in Iraq. The rebels have been fighting for autonomy for more than 20 years.