US, Britain to launch tri-lateral initiative against PKK

23/10/2007

WASHINGTON, United States -- The US and Britain agreed on Monday (October 22nd) to organise a tri-lateral meeting next month among the US, Turkey and Iraq, aimed at stopping attacks against Turkey by rebels with the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). At a meeting in Washington, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and visiting British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said they hope that ministers from the three countries would agree to attend a meeting, on the sidelines of a conference in Istanbul late next week. Meanwhile, Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan visited Baghdad on Tuesday, saying he is determined to find a diplomatic solution to the crisis that has his government planning a cross-border incursion. The BBC reports a possible breakthrough in that effort, quoting Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari as saying his country would actively help Turkey deal with the PKK "menace". On Monday, the PKK offered to call a ceasefire if the Turkish military drops plans for an incursion into Iraq. This latest activity followed a weekend attack by the PKK that killed at least 12 Turkish soldiers near the border. (Zaman, BBC, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, AFP, Reuters, AP - 23/10/07; AFP, DPA, Reuters, Voice of America - 22/10/07)