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ANKARA, Jan 11 (AFP) - Iraqi and US officials
Tuesday discussed with their Turkish counterparts
measures to tackle Turkish Kurd militants hiding in
northern Iraq, including intelligence cooperation,
but failed to pledge any immediate military action,
Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid al-Bayati said.
Turkey has often expressed frustration over US
reluctance to employ military means against rebels
from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which both
Ankara and Washington consider a terrorist group,
since October 2003 when the two sides agreed on an
action plan against the PKK, including military
measures.
About 5,000 armed militants of the PKK, held
responsible by Ankara for a 15-year civil conflict
that claimed more than 30,000 lives in southeast
Turkey, are believed to have found refuge in the
mountains of neighboring northern Iraq since 1999
when the group declared a unilateral truce.
Part of them have reportedly infiltrated Turkey
recently to engage in renewed violence, after the
PKK, now also known as KONGRA-GEL, called off the
ceasefire on June 1.
US officials have argued that their troops are
already swamped with unremitting violence in other
parts of Iraq.
"We agreed on intelligence-sharing mechanisms... on
all kind of activities including the funding of
terrorist groups," Bayati told reporters after the
three-way talks in the Turkish capital.
"We discussed military measures but... we are now at
a stage of trying to secure the (Iraqi) election
which is going to take place soon," he said. "Then
we will have future meetings, but eventually, yes,
we will take military actions."
Bayati said the priority at the moment was "to have
bilateral meetings between our two governments to
exchange information... and to agree on measures in
the future."
He said any future action against the PKK would
include the United States.
A joint statement said after the talks that the US
welcomes Turkish-Iraqi cooperation against the
rebels and "underlines its commitment to work with
Turkey... in the struggle against the PKK/KONGRA-GEL
across the world."
Three-way consultations on the issue will continue,
the statement said.
Osman Koruturk, the chief Turkish foreign ministry
official on Iraq, and US deputy assistant secretary
of state Laura Kennedy headed the delegations of
their respective countries at the meeting.
Turkey keeps several thousand soldiers in northern
Iraq. They have been deployed in the region prior to
the US-led occupation of Iraq to counter the PKK.
The Turkish army has said that the soldiers would
stay in the region as long as the guerrillas
continued to take refuge there.
Since calling off the truce, the PKK has been blamed
for a series of deadly attacks in southeast Turkey
as well as the bombing of two hotels in Istanbul in
August, which left two dead and 11 injured.
In a newspaper interview in September, Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned that Ankara's
patience was running out over US reluctance to take
military action against the PKK in northern Iraq.
Bayati said they had suggested that Turkey make
another effort to convince the rebels to lay down
their arms by offering amnesty to PKK members who
have not engaged in violence.
http://www.turkishpress.com
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