Bush vows help for Turkey against Kurdish rebels

By Caren Bohan and Susan Cornwell

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush, facing Turkish threats of a military strike against Kurdish rebels in Iraq, told Turkey's leader on Monday that he was committed to countering the militants and offered to share intelligence with Ankara.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who met Bush at the White House, has made clear he wants concrete action from Washington to combat the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which has been launching attacks on Turkey from Iraqi soil.

The Turkish prime minister seemed satisfied with the talks but did not indicate whether Bush had persuaded him to delay a military operation.

"The PKK is a terrorist organization. They're an enemy of Turkey, they're an enemy of Iraq and they're an enemy of the United States," Bush told reporters after their talks.

Ankara is impatient at what it considers U.S. and Iraqi foot-dragging over the threat from the PKK militants and has massed 100,000 troops on the Iraqi border.

Bush is worried that a Turkish incursion could destabilize a part of Iraq that has so far escaped much of the violence plaguing other areas of the country. U.S. officials also worry that Turkish action could lead to a wider regional crisis.

But Bush dismissed as "hypothetical" a question about the potential impact of a Turkish incursion.

NATO-member Turkey is a crucial ally for Washington, which uses Incirlik air base to provide logistical support for its forces in Iraq.