BERLIN, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- While the European Union has criticized Turkey's ground incursion into northern Iraq, Washington seems to silently approve. That strategy is not without risk, however, especially if the military move would take civilian lives and longer than it should.

Last week, after weeks of air raids targeting hideouts of the Kurdish separatist terror group PKK in the mountainous border region to Iraq, Turkey unleashed its ground forces into northern Iraq to hand the PKK a final blow in its own territory.

The move had been discussed with Washington beforehand, and the U.S. government, while noting that the mission should end as soon as possible, did not call on Ankara to call back its troops. Washington sees Ankara as a key ally in its fight against terrorism and as a potential helpful hand if the situation in Iraq gets more catastrophic -- after the United States, Turkey has the second-largest NATO army in the region.

Iraq's government on Sunday nevertheless urged Turkey to withdraw its ground forces from the country.

"The Iraqi government considers the unilateral Turkish military action ... a threat to the stability of the region and a violation of Iraq's sovereignty and calls on Turkey to pull its troops from Iraq as soon as possible," a government statement said.