Rice in Turkey for tough talks

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Turkey on Friday. She is there to offer an "effective strategy" against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq in exchange for Ankara holding off on its threat of cross-border military action. Rice in Turkey for tough talks Heavy security was in place at Ankara's Esenboga airport, with snipers positioned at the complex and sniffer dogs searching for explosives. "Anything that would destabilize the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interest," Rice said during a stopover in Ireland on the way to Ankara. "It is not going to be in our interest. It is not going to be in Iraq's interest," she said. "We want to develop a very effective strategy for dealing with this threat," Rice said. "But we are not going to be able to do this without coordination of the three." Describing the northern Iraq-based Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a "common enemy" of the United States, Iraq and Turkey, Rice said all three must work together to effectively combat the rebels. The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Rice said a three-party panel she set up more than a year ago to coordinate action against the rebels had been "enhanced", implicitly acknowledging that it had been ineffective. Her offer may not win over Ankara, which has lost faith in the tripartite process and says it want to see concrete steps against the PKK. "We will not make the same mistake. We are against trying over and over again mechanisms that have already been tried and have failed," Babacan told a press conference here Thursday. Rice's visit comes at a sensitive time, with the Turkish government under mounting public pressure to act against the PKK. Ankara says some 3,500 PKK rebels are based in the autonomous Kurdish-run north of Iraq, from where they launch cross-border attacks as part of their 23-year separatist campaign in southeast Turkey. Ankara has massed an estimated 100,000 troops on the border and threatened a military incursion unless Baghdad and Washington make good on promises to crack down on the rebels. Both the United States and Iraq have called on Turkey for restraint. Rice will meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in turn is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington on Monday. She will then fly to Istanbul for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ahead of a ministerial conference on Iraqi security of Iraq's neighbours and major Western powers Friday evening and Saturday in Istanbul. There were minor demonstrations against Rice's visit in Ankara and Istanbul on Thursday and a small percussion bomb went off overnight in front of a US-based cargo company in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported. Putting on the pressure ahead of Rice's arrival, Turkey on Thursday announced economic sanctions on the Kurdish autonomous government of northern Iraq, which it accuses of harbouring and aiding the rebels -- a charge Iraqi Kurdish leaders deny. Massud Barzani, the head of the Iraqi Kurdish government, confirmed that Turkey had for several days closed its airspace to planes bound for his region. Rice said she had asked Barzani in a telephone conversation last week to distance himself from the PKK. "I made the very clear point that the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) needs to separate itself from the PKK in a very clear rhetorical way and he assured me that they have no intention of harboring the PKK, no intention of trying to do anything but rule out terrorism in North Iraq," she said. Tensions between Iraq and Turkey rose after October 21 when PKK rebels Ankara says infiltrated from northern Iraq ambushed a military unit, killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight. The army says it has since killed 80 rebels on Turkish territory.

Rice in Turkey for tough talks

Heavy security was in place at Ankara's Esenboga airport, with snipers positioned at the complex and sniffer dogs searching for explosives.

"Anything that would destabilize the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interest," Rice said during a stopover in Ireland on the way to Ankara.

"It is not going to be in our interest. It is not going to be in Iraq's interest," she said.

"We want to develop a very effective strategy for dealing with this threat," Rice said. "But we are not going to be able to do this without coordination of the three."

Describing the northern Iraq-based Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) as a "common enemy" of the United States, Iraq and Turkey, Rice said all three must work together to effectively combat the rebels.

The PKK is listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union.

Rice said a three-party panel she set up more than a year ago to coordinate action against the rebels had been "enhanced", implicitly acknowledging that it had been ineffective.

Her offer may not win over Ankara, which has lost faith in the tripartite process and says it want to see concrete steps against the PKK.

"We will not make the same mistake. We are against trying over and over again mechanisms that have already been tried and have failed," Babacan told a press conference here Thursday.

Rice's visit comes at a sensitive time, with the Turkish government under mounting public pressure to act against the PKK.

Ankara says some 3,500 PKK rebels are based in the autonomous Kurdish-run north of Iraq, from where they launch cross-border attacks as part of their 23-year separatist campaign in southeast Turkey.

Ankara has massed an estimated 100,000 troops on the border and threatened a military incursion unless Baghdad and Washington make good on promises to crack down on the rebels.

Both the United States and Iraq have called on Turkey for restraint.

Rice will meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul, Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who in turn is scheduled to meet US President George W. Bush in Washington on Monday.

She will then fly to Istanbul for talks with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki ahead of a ministerial conference on Iraqi security of Iraq's neighbours and major Western powers Friday evening and Saturday in Istanbul.

There were minor demonstrations against Rice's visit in Ankara and Istanbul on Thursday and a small percussion bomb went off overnight in front of a US-based cargo company in Istanbul, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Putting on the pressure ahead of Rice's arrival, Turkey on Thursday announced economic sanctions on the Kurdish autonomous government of northern Iraq, which it accuses of harbouring and aiding the rebels -- a charge Iraqi Kurdish leaders deny.

Massud Barzani, the head of the Iraqi Kurdish government, confirmed that Turkey had for several days closed its airspace to planes bound for his region.

Rice said she had asked Barzani in a telephone conversation last week to distance himself from the PKK.

"I made the very clear point that the KRG (Kurdish Regional Government) needs to separate itself from the PKK in a very clear rhetorical way and he assured me that they have no intention of harboring the PKK, no intention of trying to do anything but rule out terrorism in North Iraq," she said.

Tensions between Iraq and Turkey rose after October 21 when PKK rebels Ankara says infiltrated from northern Iraq ambushed a military unit, killing 12 soldiers and capturing eight.

The army says it has since killed 80 rebels on Turkish territory.