U.S. Tells Turkey It Will Deal With PKK

11 January 2005 -- The United States told NATO ally Turkey today that it would handle Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq, but said there were plans to use force against them.

The visiting chief of the U.S. Central Command, General John Abizaid, said the United States, like Turkey, viewed the Kurdistan Workers Movement (PKK) as a terrorist organization.

Abizaid told Turkish military officials that U.S. and Iraqi security forces were aware that they faced a difficult task in keeping the PKK in check in Iraq and said over time the problem would be resolved.

Abizaid's visit came the same day that U.S., Turkish, and Iraqi military and civilian officials met in Ankara to discuss the same topic.

(Reuters)