By IRNA
Ankara : Turkey’s prime minister has called on Kurdish PKK rebels to lay down their arms and embrace democracy.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments came within hours of an announcement that Turkish forces had returned from an offensive against rebels in north Iraq.
“One cannot reach anywhere by the way of terror,” he said in a TV address.
“Our democracy is mature enough to embrace all kinds of differences.”
Turkey’s military said it had achieved its goals in the week-long offensive.
Iraq had urged Ankara to end its incursion across the border, but the military said there was no question of any foreign influence on the decision.
Dozens of vehicles full of soldiers crossed into the Turkish border town of Cukurca, while empty vehicles drove up mountain roads in the opposition direction to pick up more troops on Friday.
Turkey said its offensive had targeted bases used by up to 3,000 Kurdish rebels as a spring-board for attacks across the border.