President Bush pledged fresh American help to hunt down Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, during crisis talks yesterday with the Prime Minister of Turkey aimed at staving off a Turkish invasion of the country.

After a White House meeting with Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Mr Bush called the Kurdish rebels “an enemy of the United States”, and promised stepped-up military cooperation with Turkey in taking action against them.

Mr Bush urged Mr Erdogan not to send troops over the northern border of Iraq to root out Kurdish rebels, a threat that has overwhelming public support in Turkey.

While Mr Bush did not mention any plans of a US military action, a White House spokeswoman said earlier that he would urge Mr Erdogan to let American and Iraqi troops deal with the situation in northern Iraq.

Turkey, which has the second-largest army in Nato, has amassed up to 100,000 troops on the Iraqi border, backed by tanks, artillery and aircraft. Mr Erdogan is threatening military action inside Iraq to take on the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants, who have made a series of deadly attacks on Turkey from Iraqi soil.

Before his meeting with Mr Bush, Mr Erdogan made it clear that he wanted America to take “solid steps” to help to tackle the PKK as a price for Turkish restraint. Washington fears that any Turkish attack could destabilise one of the calmest parts of Iraq and cause a wider crisis.

After the meeting Mr Erdogan still did not rule out Turkish action. He reminded reporters that the Turkish parliament overwhelmingly backed military action against the PKK on October 17. “This is a mandate for a cross-border operation solely against the PKK,” Mr Erdogan said. “It cannot cover civilians.”

Mr Bush refused to comment on how he would react should Turkey invade northern Iraq. He said: “I made it very clear to the Prime Minister that we want to work in a close way to deal with this problem.”

He called the PKK guerrillas “terrorists”, and said that the Turkish military and the American force in Iraq will stay in “constant contact”.

Turkish officials have portrayed yesterday’s meeting as a last chance for the White House to avert a military strike. Although public opinion in Turkey is pressing for the use of ground troops, diplomatic sources say that Mr Erdogan’s preferred option – if he decides to take action – would be for airstrikes on PKK targets inside Iraq.

The reluctance in Washington to take overt action against the PKK has inflamed antiAmerican opinion in Turkey, a key US ally providing the route through which 70 per cent of its military air cargo reaches Iraq. A recent opinion poll showed only 2 per cent of Turks now agree with American foreign policy.

Until last month Iraq’s border with Turkey was not considered a significant US foreign policy problem. Indeed, the relative calm of northern Iraq has been viewed as one of Washington’s signal achievements in Iraq.

But the situation on Iraq’s northern border has become increasingly tense in recent weeks after an upsurge in PKK attacks on Turkey. About 50 Turks have been killed this month alone. Mr Erdogan has noted that captured PKK fighters have been armed with American weapons, including M16 rifles. The Turks also allege that the rebels have got hold of American-made ground-to-air missiles.

117,575
The number of Turks living in the US

9,423
The number of Kurds living in the US

Source: www.census.gov

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