General Buyukanit told a group of journalists here that the February 21-29 offensive targeting Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) bases in the Zap area, just across the border from Turkey, was "a huge success."

"We needed to give them a lesson and we did," he said. "We have other lessons to give. Other operations will be conducted when necessary. This was just a phase in the fight against terrorism.

"The incursion surprised (the PKK) -- we will surprise them again," he said.

He angrily rejected as "a base attack not only against the army, but against Turkey," accusations that the incursion was interrupted after only eight days under pressure from Washington.

"Neither America, nor anyone inside (Turkey) told us, 'Stop the operation'," Buyukanit said. "If anyone can prove that there was US pressure, I'll take off my uniform."

The end of the military operation was announced Friday, one day after US President George W. Bush in Washington and Defense Secretary Robert Gates on a visit to Ankara told Turkey to pull its troops back as quickly as possible.

Buyukanit said the operation targeted only the "main operational bases of the PKK in the Zap region," home to about 300 PKK fighters, of whom 240 were killed.

"We turned the disadvantages into our advantages," he said, describing how the expeditionary force fought for eight days, mostly at night, in rugged terrain, deep snow and sub-zero temperatures.

Buyukanit stressed that arms alone would not solve the Kurdish problem, and General Ilker Basbug, commander of the land forces, spoke of a "vicious circle," with Kurdish youths continuing to join the PKK ranks.

"There are two main reasons why these poor youths sign up: effective PKK propaganda, plus unemployment and poverty," Basbug said. "If economic measures reach these youths while we pursue effective military measures, the fight against terrorism will end more quickly."

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Basbug put the total number of PKK rebels holed up in camps across northern Iraq at "somewhere between 2,320 and 2,640, from which we should deduce 240."

"The others are still there," he said.

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