By NNN-Prensa Latina
Ankara : Turkey’s Chief of Staff confirmed on its web-page a cease-fire in its drive against the Kurdish rebels in north Iraq but announced resumption as part of the drive against the illegal Kurdish Labor Party (PKK).
The decision was adopted “despite foreign pressures,” adds the release alluding to US demands to set limits to prevent regional destabilization.
In his Thursday visit to Ankara, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates called to stop the military drive, following Monday’s call by President George W. Bush from Washington.
Both Gates and Bush backed Turkey’s right to defend itself of attacks from the PKK that from 1984 fights for Kurdish autonomy in SE Turkey.
Turkey says it killed 240 PKK members and lost 24 soldiers and six village guardians but the PKK says the Army lost 130 men to five of its own and blamed the ceasefire to the “casualties”.