U.S. assures Turkey on fight vs PKK calls for renewed trilateral talks

"The U.S. position is very clear. We consider the PKK as a terrorist organization and believe that the struggle against the PKK is a common one. It's a shared struggle among Turkey, U.S. and the government in Iraq," Assistant Secretary of State William Burns told a group of journalist on Wednesday in Washington.Â

 

The PKK's attack on Friday, the deadliest against the military in a year, created huge public outrage and place both the U.S. and the Iraq governments under the spotlight.

 

Washington says the PKK is the common enemy of Iraq, Turkey and the U.S.; and shares intelligence with the Turkish military on the movements of terrorists in their bases in northern Iraq.

 

Some media reports suggested the information flow had been cut ahead of Friday's attack; a claim denied by the United States.

 

Burns said the U.S. administration works with their allies in the fight against terrorism and vowed to do so.

 

TRILATERAL MEETING

The U.S. is set to give a new impetus to the failed trilateral mechanism between the governments in Ankara, Baghdad and Washington.

 

A group was formed from the special envoys of these three countries to work together to crush the PKK, however the mechanism had failed.

 

The PKK is a terrorist organization and we stand along side Turkey in the fight against this terrorist organization, a spokesman of the U.S. State Department said on Wednesday.

 

"Secondly, we encourage the trilateral mechanism to find a solution to the problem... We have excellent cooperation with Turkey in various areas, including intelligence sharing. But no intelligence is perfect," Sean McCormick added at a briefing in Washington.

 

The State Department also issued a response to a question regarding the prospects of trilateral talks in its website.

 

"We reiterate our longstanding call for the PKK to lay down its arms and cease its violence once and for all, and our commitment to work with Turkey and Iraq to defeat PKK terrorists," the response said.

 

Turkey’s retaliatory bombardment, following this latest PKK terrorist attack, inflicted serious damage to a failing organization, it added.

 

"The United States remains firmly committed to sustaining its information sharing with Ankara and to deepening our cooperation with both Turkey and Iraq against the PKK," it said.