Reuters, UK
Oct 13 2007

U.S. officials head to Turkey over genocide dispute
Sat Oct 13, 2007 6:33 AM EDT

By Arshad Mohammed and Daren Butler

MOSCOW/ANKARA (Reuters) – Two top U.S. officials flew to Ankara on
Saturday after a worsening of ties between the NATO allies and fears
Turkey will launch a military incursion into northern Iraq to crush
Kurdish rebels, diplomats said.

Relations between the two countries have been strained by a U.S.
congressional resolution branding as genocide massacres of Armenians
by Ottoman Turks in 1915. Some analysts believe the vote could weaken
Washington’s "restraining" influence on Turkey and make an incursion
more likely in coming weeks.

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Dan Fried and U.S. Undersecretary
of Defense Eric Edelman will make the trip from Moscow where they
have been accompanying Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, said a
U.S. official who spoke on condition he not be named.

The two are likely to hear sharp criticism from the Turkish
government, which this week recalled its ambassador to the United
States to Ankara for consultations and said U.S.-Turkish relations
were in danger because of the resolution.

The Turkish government, which faces pressure from the public and the
army to act, has decided to seek approval from parliament next week
for a major operation.

Kurdish separatist rebels said on Friday they were crossing back into
Turkey to target politicians and police after the prospect of a
cross-border military operation emerged.

The United States relies heavily on Turkish bases to supply its war
effort in Iraq, where more than 160,000 U.S. troops are trying to
restore stability more than four years after the invasion that
toppled former dictator Saddam Hussein.

Turkey denies genocide was committed but said many died in
inter-ethnic fighting. It remains a sensitive issue, but many Turks
are starting to more openly discuss such past taboos.

The U.S. resolution was proposed by a politician with many
Armenian-Americans in his district and is the culmination of decades
of pressure by a strong Armenian lobby that enjoys wide support in
Congress.

CONFERENCE CANCELLED

Ankara has long complained that Washington has not done enough on its
own or through the Iraqi government to crack down on Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) rebels who use the mountains of northern Iraq as
a base to attack Turkish targets.

Turkey blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since
the group launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in
southeast Turkey in 1984.

The possibility of a major Turkish military incursion into northern
Iraq is deeply troubling to U.S. officials, who fear this could
destabilize a relatively peaceful area of Iraq.

The presence of Edelman, who was with Fried in Moscow for a meeting
of the U.S. and Russian foreign and defense ministers, may aim to
appeal to the Turkish military, a highly influential institution in
the mostly Muslim but secular nation. Edelman was U.S. ambassador to
Turkey from July 2003 to June 2005.

Amid further signs of repercussions from the resolution, a conference
being held by the Turkish-U.S. Business Council in the United States
this week was cancelled, along with a visit by Turkish Trade Minister
Kursad Tuzmen, CNN Turk television said.

Turkey and the United States are NATO allies but relations have been
strained in recent years, particularly after Ankara’s refusal to
allow the United States to use its territory to stage the March 2003
U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.