Gul, Buyukanit deny N.Iraq pullout due to us pressure

The General Staff announced on Friday that Turkish troops had started to pull back from northern Iraq, and yesterday released new photos on its official website of the cross-border operation. Chief of General Staff Gen. Yasar Buyukanit said on Saturday that the Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) had withdrawn its troops from northern Iraq on schedule and also denied any foreign influence on the decision. Speaking to Milliyet daily, Buyukanit said that the army decision to withdraw from Iraq was taken on strictly military grounds. "If someone says that the army withdrew early, then let them go there (northern Iraq) and stay for 24 hours," he added. "The government knew about the pullback from northern Iraq, but needless to say they didn't know the exact time. The army killed 242 rebels out of 300 targeted in the operation, and PKK communications were cut off." Speaking to reporters on Sunday before leaving for an official visit to Romania, President Abdullah Gul also said that the decision to end to the operations was in no way made under pressure from the United States. Asked if he had known the time the operation would finish, he said that he knew the date, as the military gave briefings, and how it was planned, and finally that it ended that way.