Turkey pounds rebel positions, Iraq pushes diplomacy

By Evren Mesci and Selcuk Gokoluk

ANKARA (Reuters) - Turkish helicopters and fighter jets pounded Kurdish rebel positions on Friday as diplomatic efforts got off to a rocky start in Ankara to avert a major offensive against the guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

Turkey described as unsatisfactory a series of proposals offered by a high-level Iraqi delegation to Ankara to prevent a major military operation against Kurdish rebels in Iraq.

Ankara had given Iraq a list of members of the outlawed PKK (Kurdish Workers Party) in northern Iraq and demanded that Baghdad hand over all separatist rebels there.

"Everyone there is guilty. They are criminals at least for being a member of a terrorist organization," Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek said, referring to the PKK. "We want all of them to be handed over."

Cicek, who oversees Turkey's counter-terrorism efforts, was speaking in a televised interview with CNN Turk as Iraqi and U.S. officials met Turkish officials in Ankara in a bid to stop Turkey launching an incursion into northern Iraq.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops on the frontier before a possible cross-border operation against about 3,000 PKK guerrillas, who launch deadly attacks into Turkey from Iraq.

The state-run Anatolian news agency said Turkish helicopters fired on PKK positions discovered by reconnaissance missions along the mountainous border and inside Turkey.

Cicek confirmed Turkish air strikes inside Iraq but it was not clear whether he was referring to raids on Friday or earlier ones reported by Iraqi Kurdish officials and security sources.

"Air forces conducted operations (inside Iraq) ... but there was no big land operation. They did not go as far as the Qandil mountains. These mountains are 100 km (60 miles) inside Iraq," Cicek said.

PKK ATTACKS

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has repeatedly said Turkey will not tolerate any more PKK attacks from Iraq and has called for immediate steps by U.S. and Iraqi authorities in order to avert a military operation.

The PKK took up arms against Turkey in 1984 with the aim of creating an ethnic homeland in the southeast. More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

The Turkish lira currency rose 0.6 percent against the dollar and shares gained 1.4 percent, boosted by the diplomatic efforts in Ankara.

Iraqi Defense Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim and National Security Minister Shirwan al Waeli -- whose delegation included officials from the U.S. military and the northern Iraqi Kurdish regional government (KRG) -- held talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Interior Minister Besir Atalay.

Jassim also met the Turkish Defense minister, Vecdi Gonul.