Iraq's President Tells PKK To Disarm Or Leave Iraq

Turkish President Abdullah Gul and his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani

BAGHDAD (Reuters) -- Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has said the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a separatist guerrilla group, must lay down its arms or leave Iraqi soil.

"Either it lays down its arms or it leaves our territory," Talabani told a news conference alongside Turkey's visiting President Abdullah Gul.

PKK rebels have used northern Iraq as a base from which tolaunch attacks in southeastern Turkey. Their presence in northern Iraq has strained ties between Baghdad and Ankara.