U.S. President George W. Bush urged on Wednesday Turkey not to take cross-border military action against the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Iraq.
"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq. Actually, they have troops already stationed in Iraq ... We don't think it's in their interests to send more troops in," Bush told a White House news conference.
Bush said that he talked earlier in the day about Turkey with American Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocke, and Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.
He also noted that Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi was in Istanbul indicating that Iraq shares Turkey's concerns about terrorist activities.
There is a better way to deal with the PKK rebels than having Turkey send additional troops into Iraq, Bush said.
"What I'm telling you is that there's a lot of dialogue going on and that's positive," the president said.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article