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Bush to discuss PKK with Turkish PM at White House |
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Written by Reuters
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Wednesday, 31 October 2007 08:07 |
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U.S. President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will discuss ways to counter Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq when they meet in Washington next week, the White House said on Tuesday.
Turkish officials had already gone public with Monday's meeting, which comes amid concerns about a possible Turkish military incursion into Iraq against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK.
Bush and Erdogan will discuss "joint efforts to counter the PKK," White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said.
"We have a joint desire, a joint need to make sure that the PKK is eradicated, that they are stopped," she said.
Turkish helicopter gunships pounded rebel positions near the Iraqi border on Tuesday and Erdogan reaffirmed Ankara's readiness to send troops over the frontier despite the United States urging restraint.
Erdogan said he would tell Bush that Turkey expected "urgent, concrete steps" from the United States against the Kurdish rebels.
The United States believes Turkey has the right to look for missing soldiers, but is calling for Ankara to exercise restraint and continue talks with the Iraqis, Perino said.
Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops, backed by tanks, artillery, warplanes and combat helicopters along the Iraqi border in preparation for a possible incursion into northern Iraq, where some 3,000 rebels are believed to be hiding.
The United States and Iraq have urged Turkey to avoid a major military incursion, fearing this would destabilize the wider region. |