Turkey seeks U.S. help to curb Kurdish attacks

[warsager]

Turkey seeks U.S. help to curb Kurdish attacks

Tue 7 Jun 2005 9:07 PM ET

By JoAnne Allen

WASHINGTON, June 7 (Reuters) - Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Tuesday urged U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to do more to stop Kurdish militants he said were crossing the border with Iraq to carry out attacks in Turkey.

Gul raised the issue in a meeting with Rice one day before Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan meets U.S. President George W. Bush.

Speaking to Turkish reporters after his meeting with Rice, Gul said terrorism in Turkey was a matter that needed to be urgently addressed.

"There is leakage from Iraq, and a noticeable increase in attacks on our troops by PKK terrorists utilizing remote controlled bombs and mines. We cannot ignore this, and I expressed that the U.S. needs to be more decisive in this struggle," said Gul.

***more***

http://today.reuters.com/News/CrisesArticle.aspx?storyId=N07472177

[hector459]

1. I guess we have to take over where Saddam left off. More Kurds killed by

other Kurds than by Saddam. Is that true?

[warsager]

2. Since Turkey's democracy

voted NO to letting the US invade Iraq from their border (and if my memory is accurate the US then threatened to denied the money for aid already promised) does this mean that we are not going to help now??

[LynnTheDem]

3. Yes it's true. But as you can see in the article, Kurds are little lambs.

Still attacking and killing each other and the Turks and don't look at who's killing Iraqis in Mosul and Kirkuk.

[0007]

4. I'm more than certain the Turks will have the wherewithal in

a timely manner.

[Karenina]

5. What a mess...

[bemildred]

6. Washington will prevent attacks against Turkey from Iraq: Turkish FM

ANKARA - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has vowed to stop any attacks against Turkey from neighboring Iraq, Turkey's foreign minister said, adding that Ankara expects greater US cooperation in fighting Kurdish rebels.

"Mrs Rice has promised us that no terrorist action against Turkey from Iraqi territory will be allowed," Abdullah Gul told Turkey's Anatolia news agency late Tuesday after meeting Rice in Washington.

---

US officials say their troops are already swamped with violence in other parts of Iraq.

About 40 PKK militants and some 30 members of Turkey's security forces have died in violence since March and police have detained several suspected PKK members allegedly planning attacks on government buildings and tourist and industrial targets.

Turkish Press

[Barrett808]

7. And how exactly does Condi think she's going to stop the PKK in Iraq?

Are we going to freedomize Kirkuk in the manner of Fallujah?

[bemildred]

9. I think we have a "faith-based" military now.

We just say we're going to do stuff instead of actually doing them.

[hel]

8. That's politics for you.

Both sides know that it is far from the truth but choose to pretend otherwise. US cannot let Kurds get angry at this point. US won't do anything against Kurdish terror (or 'freedom fight', whichever way suits you). Turkey knows this perfectly well.

The real message is 'You will get cooperation only if you do what we want', the answer 'We don't need you as much we did, so we'll just keep this Kurdistan issue as a trump card in our hands, thank you very much'.

And the Kurds get screwed either way.