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US promises help to Turkey
against Kurds
Damien McElroy
London
Telegraph
Saturday November 3, 2007
America signalled yesterday that it was prepared to send special
forces - possibly joined by a British contingent - to attack Kurdish
rebels in northern Iraq.
The plan emerged as Condoleezza Rice sought to dissuade Turkey
from launching a full-scale military incursion across its southern
border.
The US secretary of state pledged direct action against the Kurdistan
Workers Party (PKK) as she arrived in Turkey for a summit attended
by Iraq's neighbours.
As well as raids by special forces, officials said that the US
air force was prepared to fly reconnaissance missions to help
pinpoint rebel positions.
(Article continues below)
Miss Rice assured Turkey that both countries faced a "common
enemy" in the PKK, a guerrilla group that uses bases in Iraq
as a launching pad for cross-border attacks.
"No one should doubt the commitment of the United States
to this issue," said Miss Rice.
"There is a US role and a US obligation to do something
about the role of the PKK. We have a common enemy and we need
a common approach. This is a very difficult problem. Rooting out
terrorism is hard."
Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, raised the possibility of
British forces playing a bigger role in northern Iraq during a
visit to the region on Wednesday.
He said that Britain would help to prevent a Turkish operation
in the region.
Ali Babacan, Turkey's foreign minister, welcomed America's tougher
stance and said it marked the start of joint action against the
rebels, who have killed more than 40 Turkish soldiers and civilians
since August.
"We have great expectations from the United States,"
he said. "We are at the point where words have been exhausted
and where there is need for action."
An estimated 3,000 PKK guerrillas - who are seeking an independent
homeland - are based in remote mountain ranges near the Turkish
and Iranian borders. In territory nominally controlled by the
Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) in northern Iraq, the PKK
operates its own checkpoints and maintains supply lines.
Massoud Barzani, the president of the KRG, has resisted calls
from Turkey and the US to restrict movements in and out of PKK
camps. Baghdad's coalition government, which relies on support
from Iraqi Kurdistan, last month promised to clamp down on the
PKK but Ankara rejected its proposals as too vague to be credible.
While Turkey has been massing up to 100,000 troops in its southern
provinces, America has faced the prospect of the second largest
army in Nato conducting offensive operations in Iraq, which it
is obliged to defend under the terms of a United Nations mandate.
President George W Bush is to meet Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish
prime minister, at the White House on Monday.
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