Robert Gates, US secretary of defence, warned Turkey on Wednesday to end its incursion into northern Iraq in ”a week or two” rather than persevere with the operation for months.

Speaking in Delhi ahead of his trip to Ankara, Mr Gates underlined the US desire to see a swift end to the Turkish ground campaign against the Kurdish militant separatists of the PKK. Washington fears the operation could destabilise the region as a whole and lead to clashes between Turkish troops and the Kurdish regional government of Northern Iraq.