UPDATE 2-Carrefour recovery to take three years - CEO

* Company to focus on cash, cutting debt and overheads

* To stay in Brazil, China, questions over Turkey, Indonesia

* Shares down 2.8 pct (Recasts with more CEO quotes, analyst comments, shareholders vote)

By Dominique Vidalon

PARIS, June 18 (Reuters) - Carrefour chief executive Georges Plassat told shareholders on Monday that he needs three years to turn around Europe's largest retailer and will look at whether to exit some markets because cash is tight.

Plassat warned that Carrefour would need to reduce debt and cut overheads while restoring power to local managers, adding that it might exit Turkey or Indonesia, having just pulled out Greece, where demand has plunged because of a debt crisis.

"I cannot commit to short-term promises," Plassat told the annual shareholders' meeting. "It will take three years to relaunch the engine. You need three years to achieve anything that is solid."

Retail veteran Plassat joined the world's second-largest retailer (behind Wal-Mart ) in April with a brief to reverse years of underperformance in European markets.

Plassat said on Monday that he found Carrefour in a "state of shock", reeling from excess centralisation, a group that had cut itself off from the outside world.