Agence France-Presse,
WASHINGTON: President George W. Bush Monday promised US cooperation in Turkey's struggle against Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq, but Washington also urged restraint after deadly border clashes.
Bush telephoned Turkish President Abdullah Gul and “expressed his deep concern” about the weekend attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), White House national security council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.
“The president reaffirmed our commitment to work with Turkey and Iraq to combat PKK terrorists operating out of northern Iraq,” he said, without spelling out what kind of US help might be extended.
The PKK said it had captured eight Turkish soldiers after an ambush Sunday on a military unit near the village of Daglica on the Iraqi border, which left 12 troops dead.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has threatened to launch a military drive into northern Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on the rebels and turns over the PKK leaders it accuses of masterminding cross-border attacks.
The United States, which uses the Incirlik air base in southern Turkey as a major staging post for supplies headed to its forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, fears any incursion could gravely undermine its battle to stabilize Iraq.
In a video-conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Bush pressed for more action from authorities in Baghdad and Iraq's Kurdish north against the PKK.
“The prime minister agreed with President Bush that Turkey should have no doubt about our mutual commitment to end all terrorist activity from Iraqi soil,” Johndroe said.
“They agreed to work together, in cooperation with the Turkish government, to prevent the PKK from using any part of Iraqi territory to plan or carry out terrorist attacks.”
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier Monday telephoned Erdogan to urge restraint and also spoke with the president of Iraqi Kurdistan, Massoud Barzani.
“We do not believe unilateral cross-border operations are the best way to address this issue,” State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
As tensions soared, Rice and visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband called for Turkey and Iraq to work together against the PKK.
“We continue to believe that cooperation and coordination between Turkey and Iraq is the most effective means to eliminate the PKK threat,” the top US and British officials said in a joint statement.
“At a time when we are seeing real progress in the security situation inside Iraq and efforts to promote peace in the region, the Iraqi government must demonstrate its commitment to regional stability,” they added.
The PKK, which is fighting for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey, said in a statement that it was ready for a ceasefire “if the Turkish army stops attacking our positions, drops plans for an incursion and resorts to peace.”
More than 37,000 people have been killed since the PKK took up arms against the Turkish state in 1984.
US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, in talks with his Turkish counterpart Vecdi Gonul in Ukraine on Sunday, said restraint was preferable and “not to be confused with weakness.”
“I'm heartened that he (Gonul) seems to be implying a reluctance on their part to act unilaterally, and I think that's a good thing,” Gates said, adding: “I didn't have the impression that anything was imminent.”
However, Washington fears that its influence with Turkey has been undermined by a push in Congress to describe the World War I massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks as “genocide.”
“President Bush also reiterated his opposition to House Resolution 106, the Armenian 'genocide' resolution,” Johndroe said.
After the resolution was approved by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Turkey recalled its ambassador to Washington and has threatened to cut off logistical support to the US war efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan.
