CONDOLEEZZA RICE: PKK IS AN ENEMY OF THE UNITED STATES

PanARMENIAN.Net
02.11.2007 13:46 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday
promised "effective" action against Kurdish rebels who have launched
attacks on Turkey from northern Iraq, but she strongly urged Ankara
itself to observe restraint.

Speaking en route for Turkey, Rice called the outlawed Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) a "common enemy" but said its NATO ally should
not undertake any action that could destabilize the situation in
northern Iraq.

Rice arrived in Ankara for talks with Foreign Minister Ali Babacan,
President Abdullah Gul as well as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan,
who is going to Washington next week for talks with President George
W. Bush on how to tackle the PKK threat.

Ankara has warned it will carry out a major cross-border operation
unless U.S. and Iraqi authorities crack down on an estimated 3,000
PKK guerrillas who are using northern Iraq as a base to carry out
deadly attacks in Turkey.

Turkey has sent 100,000 troops to the Iraqi border, backed by tanks,
artillery and aircraft, ready for a possible military incursion. But
Iraq and the United States have urged Ankara to refrain from a major
operation.

"We have certainly been concerned that anything that would destabilize
the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey’s interests, it is not
going to be in our interests and it is not going to be in the Iraqis’
interests. That’s been the reason for urging restraint," Rice told
reporters before a refueling stop in Shannon, Ireland.

"But we understand the need to do something effective against this
PKK threat. The PKK is an enemy of the United States just like it is
an enemy of the Turks," she said, Reuters reports.

Turkey has numerously threatened with incursion into northern Iraq. In
mid-October the Turkish parliament approved the measure providing for
a cross-border operation. Presently, some 100,000 Turkish troops are
concentrated at the Iraqi border.