Rice vows to continue to help Turkey against PKK

Apr 25, 2006, 16:41 GMT

Ankara - US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice on Tuesday assured Turkish leaders that the United States would continue to support Turkey's efforts against the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), but failed to announce any major new plans for combatting the Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq.

At a press conference in Ankara with her Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul, Rice said the US would continue sharing intelligence with Turkey over the PKK, a group which both nations consider a terrorist organization, and that they were looking at ways of increasing cooperation on the matter.

'We were with you in the past in the fight against terrorism and we will be with you in the future,' Rice said.

Turkish newspapers on Tuesday reported that Ankara was expecting Rice to bring plans outlining increased measures against the rebel group holed up in mountainous northern Iraq.

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said one of the main things Turkey expects of US-led coalition forces in Iraq and Iraqi security forces is more effort on the Iraqi side of the border to stop PKK guerillas from crossing into Turkey.

Gul also played down reports of an increase in Turkish troop numbers near the Iraqi border saying these increases happened every spring as PKK rebels increase their own operations.

On the issue of Iran's attempts to procure nuclear weapons, both Gul and Rice stressed that their hope was that the matter can be solved diplomatically.

Other issues on the agenda of Rice's talks in Ankara with Gul included Cyprus and the Middle East conflict.

Although Turkey is a NATO ally of the US, relations have been severely tested in recent years especially over the Iraq war. The Turkish parliament refused permission for US troops to use Turkish land to open a northern front against ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's forces.

While relations have recovered to an extent since then, Turkey has been disappointed that the US has not kept promises to crack down on PKK rebels in northern Iraq.

Rice was scheduled to meet Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan later.