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ANKARA, Turkey - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Turkish
officials Friday that Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq were a
"common threat" and that the United States would help Ankara in its
fight against them.
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Speaking after meeting with both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan
and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Rice said she had emphasized that
the United States is "committed to redoubling its efforts" to help
Turkey in its struggle against the rebel fighters.
"We consider this a common threat, not just to the interests of Turkey
but to the interests of the United States as well," she said at a
joint news conference with Babacan. "This is going to take persistence
and it's going to take commitment - this is a very difficult problem."
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further
information. AP's earlier story is below.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says the
United States, Turkey and Iraq will counter any attacks on Turkey by
Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq.
She didn't specify just what that meant in speaking with reporters en
route to diplomatic meetings in Turkey and the Middle East, and she
warned against doing anything that might worsen the volatile situation
on the Turkish-Iraqi border.
Rice was in Turkey's capital Friday and meeting with Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other high-ranking officials as part of an
intense campaign to prevent Turkey from sending its troops across the
border into northern Iraq to fight Kurdish guerrillas.
She planned to press the U.S. case that Iraqi Kurds and Turkey should
back away from an escalating conflict. So far the U.S. has won no
public promises to stand down.
She also will try to soothe lingering irritation by Turkey over a
House committee vote last month that labeled as genocide the deaths of
Armenians a century ago at the hands of Ottoman Turks.
Turkey has complained for months about what it contends is a lack of
U.S. support against the rebels known as PKK. The Turkish government
has threatened a full-scale ground attack into northern Iraq if the
U.S. and Iraqi officials fail to do something about the rebels.
"We have a common enemy and we are going to act as if we have a common
enemy, which means that we are going to work with our Turkish allies
and the Iraqis" to have an effective way of dealing with the PKK, Rice
said Thursday to reporters traveling with her.
Raids by the rebels and other fighting have left 47 people dead in
Turkey since Sept. 29, including 35 soldiers. The skirmishes were the
latest in a conflict that dates back to 1984 and has seen nearly
40,000 people killed.