Prometheus 6

Bush Offers Turkish Leader Help Against Rebels
By BRIAN KNOWLTON

WASHINGTON. Nov. 4 — President George W. Bush offered Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan additional help today in containing Iraq-based Kurdish militants, hoping to avert Turkish troops from crossing the border. Mr. Erdogan, however, did not indicate whether the White House reassurances were enough.

Mr. Erdogan said the two leaders discussed the steps the Turks say are vital in containing the militants — “the dissolving of the terrorist camps, the capture of leaders of the terrorist organization” — but after their meeting in the Oval Office, neither man indicated whether any commitments had been made.

Mr. Bush declined to answer how he would react if the Turks launched a major attack into Iraqi Kurdistan but said both sides agreed that some action was necessary.

“I made it very clear to the prime minister that we want to work in a close way to deal with this problem,” Mr. Bush said afterward.

The administration worries that a cross-border incursion might set a precedent for other countries — particularly, Iran — that have conflicts with Kurdish rebels.

President Bush offered additional intelligence-sharing to help Turkey combat the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a proposal advanced by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in meetings in Istanbul and Ankara last weekend. Mr. Bush also promised closer coordination between the countries’ militaries in tracking the PKK rebels, whom he condemned.

“They’re an enemy of Turkey, they’re an enemy of Iraq, and they’re an enemy of the United States,” Mr. Bush said. In promising to provide better intelligence, he said it was needed “to chase down people who murder people.”

Mr. Erdogan had effectively set today as a deadline for deciding whether to send into action some of the tens of thousands of Turkish troops now in the rugged border area.