Turkey rejects US push for Nth Iraq withdrawal
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Turkey resisted calls from the US Defence Secretary Robert Gates to commit to a quick withdrawal of its troops from northern Iraq.
Turkey sent ground troops into Iraq last week to search for Kurdish rebels.
One week into this cross border operation Turkey's defence minister says his country's troops will not withdraw from northern Iraq until their mission there is complete.
He was speaking after a meeting with Mr Gates who arrived to press Washington's message that support for this operation is not open ended.
Mr Gates said the two men did not discuss a specific timetable for the incursion. He only repeated that America wanted it kept short and precise as possible.
The US describes the Kurdish separatist PKK as the common enemy of America, Turkey and Iraq.
