Speaking after White House talks with President George W. Bush, he said resolution of the crisis with the rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) was difficult because they were "terrorists" and based outside of Turkey.

"There are attacks (from the PKK) coming into Turkey from another country targeting security forces and civilians," Gul told a Washington forum.

"So how could one speak of a political solution when that act of terrorism emanates externally from another country," he said to a question on the possibility of political solution to the conflict.

"This is like trying to find a solution to an Al-Qaeda attack from another country," he said.

Gul also appeared to indicate that the issue of a political solution to the PKK crisis was not raised during talks with President Bush on Tuesday.

"Neither today nor any other meeting that we had, we did not discuss this issue and we would not discuss it in that context," Gul said, through an interpreter.

Earlier Bush said after talks with Gul that Washington would keep helping Ankara's military against the PKK.

"It's an enemy to Turkey; it's an enemy to Iraq; and it's an enemy to people who want to live in peace," said Bush.

The White House also encouraged Gul's government to pursue talks with leaders in Iraq's Kurdish northern region and leaders in Baghdad to forge a "long-term political solution" to end the PKK's two-decade campaign.

"This has been going on for so long that it's time to put a stop to it," said spokeswoman Dana Perino, who urged Gul to work with Iraq's President Jalal Talabani -- himself a Kurd -- and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Asked whether Washington was proposing any specific political solution, Perino replied: "No, I think that we just would encourage an open dialogue which they have had over the past couple of months."

Asked whether the PKK -- branded a terrorist group by the European Union, Turkey and the United States -- would have a seat at the table, Perino replied: "I don't know whether they talk to terrorists. I know that we do not."