UNITED NATIONS, Sept 22: Turkey is dissatisfied with American responses to its demand for action against Kurdish militants and hopes for firmer answers this week before Ankara decides on sending troops to aid US-led forces in Iraq, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Monday.

In an interview, he said “so far, public opinion is not satisfied” and this issue of PKK militants faced by Turkey “should be handled more seriously” by Washington.

“We expect concrete action from the Americans,” Mr Gul said.

With American soldiers dying every day in Iraq and the security situation fragile, the United States has asked Turkey, a NATO ally, to send as many as 10,000 troops.

Other countries have also been asked to contribute, but some of those with major armed forces, like India, are either opposed or wavering.

The Turkish government favors the deployment to Iraq, but the formal decision must be made by the parliament, which returns to work on Oct 1.

Hoping to win over Turkish public opinion for the deployment, Ankara has insisted the United States follow through on promises to eject an estimated 5,000 Kurdish rebels who are holed up in northern Iraq.

The rebels launched a bloody campaign for a homeland in mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984 that has killed more than 30,000 people. They recently called off a ceasefire.

This was a major topic of recent visits to Ankara by US officials.

But asked if the Americans had presented Turkey with a plan for dealing with the PKK, Mr Gul said: “So far, it should be handled more seriously.”—Reuters