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Turkey's Erdogan to meet Bush amid
frustration over Kurdish rebels
7.6.2005
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ANKARA, June 7 (AFP) - 3h46 - Turkish Prime
Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meets US President
George W. Bush at the White House on Wednesday in a
fence-mending visit during which he is expected to
make a new push for US action against Turkish Kurd
rebels based in northern Iraq.
Turkish-US ties are still struggling to recover from
a crisis that erupted before the 2003 invasion of
Iraq when Turkey, long valued by Washington as a
reliable Muslim ally in NATO, denied US troops
access to its territory to open a northern front in
Iraq.
Differences over Iraq have abated since, but
Ankara's frustration is growing at US reluctance to
curb Turkish Kurd rebels holed up in the mountains
of northern Iraq who last year ended a five-year
unilateral truce with Ankara.
The rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK),
branded a terrorist group by Ankara and Washington,
are reported to be infiltrating Turkey in increasing
numbers along with explosives and ammunition.
Turkish army chief Hilmi Ozkok complained in April
that the PKK's inclusion on the US terror list "has
no meaning in practice," while Erdogan grumbled that
Iraq is becoming a "training ground for terrorist
groups."
US officials say their troops are already swamped
with violence in other parts of Iraq, but Ankara is
worried that US inaction encourages PKK activities
on the Turkish side of the border.
About 40 PKK militants and some 30 members of the
security forces have died in violence since March
and police have detained several suspected PKK
members allegedly planning attacks on government
buildings and tourist and industrial targets.
US inaction on the PKK has contributed to what is
seen as rising anti-US sentiment in Turkey, analysts
say. A recent opinion poll found that 74 percent of
Turks see the uninhibited presence of PKK rebels in
northern Iraq as the biggest problem in US-Turkish
ties.
In remarks ahead of his visit to Washington, Erdogan
sought to downplay the disagreements.
"We don't want our strategic partnership to be
clouded," Erdogan told the Yeni Safak daily at the
weekend. "There might have been some problems, but
we can overcome them. In fact, we have already
overcome most of them."
In an apparent reference to Turkey's exasperation
over the PKK, Erdogan said: "Some issues may not be
developing at the pace we desire. I will ask him
(Bush) to speed them up."
Both countries have made gestures in recent months
to put their ties back on track.
Washington has maintained support for Turkey's bid
to join the European Union, and US business people
and congressmen have visited the breakaway Turkish
state on the divided island of Cyprus in a show of
foreign support for the internationally isolated
enclave.
Ankara, for its part, has allowed the US army to use
a prominent base in southern Turkey as a logistical
cargo hub for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Erdogan told Yeni Safak that Iraq, Cyprus and the
Middle East would figure high on the agenda of his
talks at the White House.
Turkey is also willing to undertake projects to
improve the infrastructure in Afghanistan, where its
troops are currently at the helm of the NATO-led
International Security Assistance Force, he said.
On Thursday, Erdogan will meet UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan in New York to discuss chances of
reviving the stalled Cyprus peace process.
AFP
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