ANKARA, Nov 2: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pledged on Friday to “redouble” US efforts to combat Kurdish rebels attacking Turkey from northern Iraq, while warning Ankara against unilateral military action.
“We have a common enemy ... This is not just a problem for Turkey, but also for the US and Iraq,” Rice said following talks here with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan.
Rice was seeking to dissuade Turkey from launching cross-border military strikes against separatist Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) bases in northern Iraq.
Turkey argues that it has little choice given US and Iraqi failure to help crackdown on the rebels.
“The US is committed to redoubling efforts (against the PKK) because we need a comprehensive approach to this problem,” Rice told a joint press conference with Babacan.
Rice acknowledged that the United States had an “obligation” to help Turkey -- a close Nato ally -- but stressed it would take time and effort to flush out the rebels.
“It is a difficult problem, rooting out terrorists. This is going to take persistence, commitment,” she said.
Washington and Baghdad fear any unilateral Turkish incursion in northern Iraq will wreak havoc in the relatively calm region.
Babacan welcomed Rice’s assurances but made it clear that Turkish patience had all but run out.
“We are where words have come to an end and action must begin,” Babacan said. “We need to work on methods that will produce effective results.” The PKK has been waging a bloody 23-year campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey, with a loss of more than 37,000 lives so far. Ankara accuses the autonomous Kurdish government in northern Iraq of sheltering and helping arm the rebels.
Rice stressed that the fight against the PKK must be carefully targeted.
“The United States, Turkey and Iraq... have a common interest in not having events in northern Iraq lead to a destabilisation of Iraq as a whole,” she said.
But Turkey is wary of reviving tripartite talks with Iraq and the US which have failed in the past to produce concrete action.
“We are against trying, over and over again, mechanisms that have already been tried and have failed,” Babacan said before the talks with Rice.
The mounting tensions over the PKK will dominate talks between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush in Washington on Nov 5.—AFP
