NERVOUS US VOWS HELP FOR TURKEY AGAINST PKK REBELS
by Laurent Lozano
Agence France Presse — English
Oct 23 2007
President George W. Bush Monday promised US cooperation in Turkey’s
struggle against Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq, but
Washington also urged restraint after deadly border clashes.
Bush telephoned Turkish President Abdullah Gul and "expressed his
deep concern" about the weekend attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK), White House national security council spokesman
Gordon Johndroe said.
"The president reaffirmed our commitment to work with Turkey and Iraq
to combat PKK terrorists operating out of northern Iraq," he said,
without spelling out what kind of US help might be extended.
The PKK said it had captured eight Turkish soldiers after an ambush
Sunday on a military unit near the village of Daglica on the Iraqi
border, which left 12 troops dead.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch
a military drive into northern Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on the
rebels and turns over the PKK leaders it accuses of masterminding
cross-border attacks.
The United States, which uses the Incirlik air base in southern
Turkey as a major staging post for supplies headed to its forces in
Iraq and Afghanistan, fears any incursion could gravely undermine its
battle to stabilize Iraq.
In a video-conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Bush
pressed for more action from authorities in Baghdad and Iraq’s
Kurdish north against the PKK.
"The prime minister agreed with President Bush that Turkey should
have no doubt about our mutual commitment to end all terrorist
activity from Iraqi soil," Johndroe said.
"They agreed to work together, in cooperation with the Turkish
government, to prevent the PKK from using any part of Iraqi territory
to plan or carry out terrorist attacks."
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier Monday telephoned
Erdogan to urge restraint and also spoke with the president of Iraqi
Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani.
"We do not believe unilateral cross-border operations are the best
way to address this issue," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack
said.
As tensions soared, Rice and visiting British Foreign Secretary David
Miliband called for Turkey and Iraq to work together against the PKK.
"We continue to believe that cooperation and coordination between
Turkey and Iraq is the most effective means to eliminate the PKK
threat," the top US and British officials said in a joint statement.
"At a time when we are seeing real progress in the security situation
inside Iraq and efforts to promote peace in the region, the Iraqi
government must demonstrate its commitment to regional stability,"
they added.
The PKK, the Turkish acronym for the Kurdistan Workers Party,
contends that the government has oppressed minority Kurds for
decades.
The group, which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeast
Turkey, said in a statement that it was ready for a ceasefire "if the
Turkish army stops attacking our positions, drops plans for an
incursion and resorts to peace."
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms
against the Turkish state in 1984.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in talks with his Turkish
counterpart Vecdi Gonul in Ukraine on Sunday, said restraint was
preferable and "not to be confused with weakness."
"I’m heartened that he (Gonul) seems to be implying a reluctance on
their part to act unilaterally, and I think that’s a good thing,"
Gates said, adding: "I didn’t have the impression that anything was
imminent."
However, Washington fears that its influence with Turkey has been
undermined by a push in the US Congress to describe the World War I
massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as "genocide."
"President Bush also reiterated his opposition to House Resolution
106, the Armenian ‘genocide’ resolution," Johndroe said.
After the resolution was approved by the House Foreign Affairs
Committee, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington and has
threatened to cut off logistical support to the US war efforts in
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, who is a Kurd,
indicated during an appearance at a Washington policy institute
Monday that the Kurdish regional government would not attack its
ethnic kin.
"Don’t ask us to start an endless civil war," he said.