US:The United States has promised to share intelligence with Turkey about the activities of the Kurdish separatist PKK in northern Iraq, hoping to avert a Turkish military incursion.
President George Bush told Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan yesterday that the US viewed the PKK, which is responsible for numerous bomb attacks inside Turkey, as a threat to American interests.
"The PKK is a terrorist organisation. They're an enemy of Turkey. They're an enemy of Iraq. And they're an enemy of the United States. We have talked about how we can work together to protect ourselves from the PKK," Mr Bush said after the two leaders met in the White House.
Ankara complains that the Kurdish authorities in northern Iraq have done little to prevent the PKK from planning attacks on Turkey from inside Iraq.
Last month, the Turkish parliament voted overwhelmingly to authorise military action inside Iraq but Mr Erdogan said any such action would be targeted to avoid civilian casualties.
"Almost every single member of the Turkish parliament gave a mandate for a military cross-border incursion if necessary. This is solely aimed at the PKK. It cannot and will not target civilians. On this point, of course, we place a priority on intelligence sharing," he said.
Mr Bush declined to speculate on how the US would react to a Turkish incursion but suggested that effective intelligence sharing could avert such a move.
"Good sound intelligence, delivered on a real-time basis, using modern technology will make it much easier to deal effectively with people who are using murder as a weapon to achieve political objectives," Mr Bush said.
Yesterday's meeting came a day after the PKK released eight soldiers it had been holding for two weeks since their capture in an ambush inside Turkey along the Iraqi border.
Mr Bush noted Mr Erdogan's government had consulted the US about getting the soldiers released. "There is at least one effective measure for people in Turkey to see that when we work together, we can accomplish important objectives," Mr Bush said.
Washington's relations with Turkey, an important political and military ally, have suffered several recent strains. Last month, Turkey recalled its ambassador from Washington when Congress seemed poised to back a declaration describing as genocide the Ottoman massacre of Armenians in the first World War.
The Democratic leadership in Congress backed away from the resolution after the Bush administration warned that it could imperil Turkey's co-operation with US forces in Iraq. Mr Bush yesterday praised Turkey's role in promoting political progress in Iraq.