RICE WARNS: TURKEY SHOULD NOT INTERVENE IN NORTHERN IRAQ

Hurriyet, Turkey
Oct 25 2007

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned Turkey in very
strong terms not to intervene in northern Iraq, underscoring that
the US will "do what is necessary" in terms of taking care of the
PKK presence there.

In statements made before the US House of Representatives Committee
on Foreign Affairs, Rice commented "The past 72 hours have been very
difficult. I spoke on Sunday with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan,
and also with the Iraqi Kurds. As we have said before, there must be
no place made for PKK terrorism to hurt Turkey. Both the Iraqis and
the Turks need to make extraordinary efforts."

Rice did not that in her talks with Prime Minister Erdogan, she had
underscored that the US was taking the current situation extremely
seriously.

Rice also noted that while the US was working with Turkey and Iraq on
certain shared precautions, the Baghdad administration had confirmed
that it would be closing down known PKK bureaus in Iraq, and working
generally to prevent the PKK from activity:

"We have a series of precautions in mind. We believe that if
followed, these precautions will allow control to be gained in this
situation. There is a three-way mechanism that we have in place which
includes Turkey, the US, and Iraq…."

On the possibility that Turkey might infact decide to send military
over the border into Iraq in pursuit of PKK forces, Rice said this:

"The Turks should not engage in over the border intervention. We
have warned that responding in this way will affect the stability of
the region. We have encouraged everyone to find a solution to this
terrorist problem in a way which will not undermine the stability of
northern Iraq."

On the question of the Armenian bill, which is expected to come up
for a vote before the US House of Representatives soon, Rice told
the Committee "We believe strongly that this bill must not move
forward….This is a very sensitive period for Turkey. There are
enormous changes taking place. We have very important strategic
interests in Turkey."

Rice noted that she had met with Armenian Prime Minister Serge
Sarkisian this week, and that she had noted to him that Americans
preferred to turn their faces towards the future rather than towards
the past, and that the same stance was necessary for Turkey and
Armenia.