Condoleezza Rice Visits Turkey

[Ellinas]

American Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, who is visiting Ankara today, will have talks on developments in Turkish borders with Turkish President, Abdullah Gul, Prime-minister, Tayip Erdogan and Foreign Minister, Ali Babatsan. Her aim is to avert a Turkish major military operation which would further destabilize the already tense situation in the region. In parallel, Mrs. Rice will have talks with Iraqi prime-minister, Nuri al Maliki in Konstantinopolis tonight, with Foreign Ministers of Iraq neighbouring countries as well as tripartite talks ( USA, Iraq, Turkey) on Saturday.
As she characteristically said "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". "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." We must find an effective strategy to deal with the threat but this can not be achieved without the cooperation of the three sides".
International Conference on Iraq, in the presence of neighbouring countries' representatives, UN Security Council permanent representatives and G8, has opened in Konstantinopolis. This is the second conference on Iraq, the first was held on 3, 4 May in Egypt.

[Ellinas]

Persistence and Commitment

After meeting with Turkey’s Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and her counterpart Ali Babacan, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promised that the USA is set to redouble its efforts against the PKK separatists. Washington’s goal is to have a unilateral Turkish incursion into northern Iraq averted, however, Ali Babacan stated that works should end. Rice claimed that the fight against the Kurd rebels in northern Iraq requires persistence and commitment, also promising that her country means to redouble its efforts and help Turkey to deal with this problem.

[Ellinas]

Turkish PM in the USA


Being in the USA, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet late on Monday with President George W. Bush and discuss the possibility of Turkey’s military incursion into northern Iraq to crush the PKK separatists. The meeting at the White House is termed as pivotal for Ankara’s next moves. Erdogan is due in Italy on Wednesday, one of the European nations championing Turkey’s EU bid.

In the meantime, the Turkish Premier stated that were the Iraqi Government to step up measures against the Kurds, a Turkish military operation against the Kurd rebels would be averted.

"Never has Turkey broken off its diplomatic and political ties with Baghdad, however, the Turkish people’s patience is wearing thin," commented Erdogan in his interview with Italian paper La Stampa.

It should be noted that during a meeting held Saturday in Istanbul, Iraq committed to take measures against the Kurd separatist using the Iraqi soil to launch their attacks.

ERT