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ANKARA, Turkey — U.S. Deputy Secretary of State
Richard L. Armitage and Turkish Foreign Minister
Abdullah Gul on Monday reviewed touchy regional
issues that have led to coolness between their
countries, but Mr. Gul said ties between the two
NATO allies, described by both parties as a
"strategic partnership," will remain intact. One of
the reasons for the chill in bilateral ties is the
presence in northern Iraq of an estimated 5,000
militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that
Turkey holds responsible for a civil conflict that
claimed about 37,000 lives in the country's
southeast from 1984 to 1999.
Clashes tapered off after a rebel truce in 1999, but
there has been a surge in violence since June, when
the rebels declared an end to the cease-fire, saying
Turkey had not responded in kind.
Trilateral talks sought
"We are going to have, we hope in the near future, a
trilateral meeting here to discuss the whole
question of the PKK," Mr. Armitage said after the
talks. He did not elaborate. Ankara wants U.S.
forces in Iraq to curb PKK's activities. Another
bone of contention is Ankara's unhappiness with the
Kurds' expulsion of Turkish-speaking Iraqi Turkmen
from oil-rich Kirkuk. The Kurds themselves had been
expelled from the area by Arabs under Saddam
Hussein.
"There have been many segments of Iraqi society who
have had their situation changed by force," Mr.
Armitage told reporters. "The Turkmens are, of
course, in this category and the Kurds themselves
have been forced out, of particularly Kirkuk, to
some degree.
"These are things that have to be corrected in the
transitional administrational law ... to redress
these wrongs for all those who are dispossessed," he
said.
Kurdish break feared
Turkey fears that Kurdish control of the Kirkuk oil
fields — among the richest in Iraq — could encourage
Iraqi Kurds to break away from Baghdad and fan
separatist sentiment among Kurds in southeastern
Turkey, causing new turmoil in the region.
"We stressed our concern over Kirkuk," said a
Turkish diplomat, speaking on the condition of
anonymity. "We explained that we had serious
concerns over efforts to change the demographic
structure [because] ... this could lead to serious
problems."
The diplomat said Mr. Armitage assured Mr. Gul he is
discussing the matter with Massoud Barzani and Jalal
Talabani, allies of the United States and leaders of
the two mainstream Kurdish parties in northern Iraq,
which borders Turkey.
The troubled electoral process in Iraq also was
discussed, the Turkish source said, with Mr. Gul
stressing "the need to hold the election in the
soundest manner and with as much participation as
possible."
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