WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (KUNA) — US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice said on Wednesday that Iraq should take measures to deal with the Kurdistan Workers Party and urged Turkey not to destabilize the Iraqi Kurdistan area along its border.
“We have encouraged everyone to work together toward a solution that does deal with the terrorist problem but does not destabilize northern Iraq”, said Rice before the House of Representatives Foreign Relations Committee.
“We have cautioned that retaliation, cross-border raids and the like or cross-border operations, would have destabilizing effects”, she added.
She affirmed that she is in close contact with Turkish officials and reiterated that “Iraq should not be a place from which PKK terrorism can hurt Turkey”.
Rice said that in the last three days the situation on the Iraqi-Turkish border has been “very difficult” calling upon both sides to make “extraordinary efforts” to resolve this problem.
“PKK is a terrorist organization and Turks should not have to sustain attacks from havens across that border in Iraq”, she said.
Rice noted that the United States suggested a to-do-list for the Iraqi government to deal with PKK, if implemented, would help ease tensions along the border and stop the flow of fighters, in particular closing PKK offices.
She talked about “a trilateral mechanism” between Turkey, Iraq and the United States to prevent “this kind of cross-border terrorism” in the remote areas of Iraqi Kurdistan.
Rice assured Turkey that the United States will do its best to stop any attack on the Turkish army in the future and called on Iraq “to deal seriously” with this issue.
She said that the Armenian genocide bill before Congress comes at “a very delicate time” for Turkey.
“It is a time when it is going through a major transformation internally. We have extremely important strategic interests with the Turks”, said Rice.
She added that she urged Armenian Prime Minister Serge Sarkisian during her meeting with him yesterday in Washington to “move forward” with Turkey beyond this issue that occurred under the Ottoman empire, argued Rice, and called upon both countries “to work together to look to their future”.
“I continue to believe that the passage of the Armenian genocide resolution would severely harm our relationship with Turkey”, concluded Rice.