Rice promises Ankara "effective" action on PKK
By Sue Pleming
SHANNON, Ireland, Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday promised "effective" action against Kurdish rebels who have launched attacks on Turkey from northern Iraq, but she strongly urged Ankara itself to observe restraint.
Speaking en route for Turkey, Rice called the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a "common enemy" but said its NATO ally should not undertake any action that could destabilise the situation in northern Iraq.
She also indicated Washington might follow Turkey's lead and impose sanctions targeting the PKK separatists.
"We have certainly been concerned that anything that would destabilise the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interests, it is not going to be in our interests and it is not going to be in the Iraqis' interests. That's been the reason for urging restraint," Rice told reporters before a refuelling stop in Ireland.
"But we understand the need to do something effective against this PKK threat," she said, adding: "The PKK is an enemy of the United States just like it is an enemy of the Turks."
Turkey has sent 100,000 troops to the border for a possible push into northern Iraq against PKK militants. But Iraq and the United States have urged Ankara to refrain from a major operation.
Her visit coincides with increasingly anti-U.S. sentiment in Turkey and residual anger after a resolution passed by a U.S. congressional committee this month that called the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide.
Rice will meet President Abdullah Gul as well as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who is going to Washington next week for talks with President George W. Bush over how to tackle the PKK threat.
"Effective action means action that can deal with the threat but that isn't going to make the situation worse," Rice said.
"We really need to look for an effective strategy and not just one that will strike out somehow and still not deal with the problem," she said, though she declined to detail what action Washington might undertake.
SANCTIONS
But she said short-term measures included better information-sharing with the Turks and making it harder for the PKK to move around in northern Iraq.
Turkey plans economic sanctions that would target the outlawed PKK and groups providing them with support in northern Iraq, a move Rice said the United States could follow.
"We have never had difficulty in trying to deny assets to terrorist organisations, so that is something that we might look at," Rice said. "But I don't want to get into specifics of what we might or might not do," she added.
Rice said measures on how to deal with the PKK would be discussed at a meeting between herself and ministers from Turkey and Iraq on the sidelines of an Iraq neighbours conference in Istanbul on Saturday.
"We have a common enemy. We are going to act as if we have a common enemy, which means that we are going to work with our Turkish allies and with the Iraqis," she said.
Rice is also set to meet Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Istanbul and will press him as well as the Kurdish regional government (KRG) to do more to stop the PKK.
Rice spoke last week by phone to Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and delivered the same message.
"I made the very clear point that the KRG needs to separate itself from the PKK in a very, very clear and rhetorical way and he (Barzani) assured me that they had no intention of harbouring the PKK, no intention of supporting the PKK, no intention of trying to do anything but root out terrorism in northern Iraq," said Rice.
Turkey accuses the KRG of providing shelter and support to an estimated 3,000 PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq. Barzani denies these claims.
SHANNON, Ireland, Nov 2 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Friday promised "effective" action against Kurdish rebels who have launched attacks on Turkey from northern Iraq, but she strongly urged Ankara itself to observe restraint.
Speaking en route for Turkey, Rice called the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) a "common enemy" but said its NATO ally should not undertake any action that could destabilise the situation in northern Iraq.
She also indicated Washington might follow Turkey's lead and impose sanctions targeting the PKK separatists.
"We have certainly been concerned that anything that would destabilise the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interests, it is not going to be in our interests and it is not going to be in the Iraqis' interests. That's been the reason for urging restraint," Rice told reporters before a refuelling stop in Ireland.
"But we understand the need to do something effective against this PKK threat," she said, adding: "The PKK is an enemy of the United States just like it is an enemy of the Turks."
Turkey has sent 100,000 troops to the border for a possible push into northern Iraq against PKK militants. But Iraq and the United States have urged Ankara to refrain from a major operation.
Her visit coincides with increasingly anti-U.S. sentiment in Turkey and residual anger after a resolution passed by a U.S. congressional committee this month that called the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a genocide.
Rice will meet President Abdullah Gul as well as Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who is going to Washington next week for talks with President George W. Bush over how to tackle the PKK threat.
"Effective action means action that can deal with the threat but that isn't going to make the situation worse," Rice said.
"We really need to look for an effective strategy and not just one that will strike out somehow and still not deal with the problem," she said, though she declined to detail what action Washington might undertake.
SANCTIONS
But she said short-term measures included better information-sharing with the Turks and making it harder for the PKK to move around in northern Iraq.
Turkey plans economic sanctions that would target the outlawed PKK and groups providing them with support in northern Iraq, a move Rice said the United States could follow.
"We have never had difficulty in trying to deny assets to terrorist organisations, so that is something that we might look at," Rice said. "But I don't want to get into specifics of what we might or might not do," she added.
Rice said measures on how to deal with the PKK would be discussed at a meeting between herself and ministers from Turkey and Iraq on the sidelines of an Iraq neighbours conference in Istanbul on Saturday.
"We have a common enemy. We are going to act as if we have a common enemy, which means that we are going to work with our Turkish allies and with the Iraqis," she said.
Rice is also set to meet Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki in Istanbul and will press him as well as the Kurdish regional government (KRG) to do more to stop the PKK.
Rice spoke last week by phone to Iraqi Kurdish leader Masoud Barzani and delivered the same message.
"I made the very clear point that the KRG needs to separate itself from the PKK in a very, very clear and rhetorical way and he (Barzani) assured me that they had no intention of harbouring the PKK, no intention of supporting the PKK, no intention of trying to do anything but root out terrorism in northern Iraq," said Rice.
Turkey accuses the KRG of providing shelter and support to an estimated 3,000 PKK guerrillas in northern Iraq. Barzani denies these claims.
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