What is Turkey hoping to hear from President Bush?
In the first place, we want to see concrete results from our cooperation with the United States of America. Since the U.S. intervention [in Iraq] in 2003, we’ve been working together with the United States to preserve the independence, territorial integrity and unity of Iraq. And of course we are part of the international effort to put an end to terrorist activities wherever they happen. The United States and its president are on record saying that wherever they see terrorist activities, they are going to work against that. And I know that the United States is determined to fight against PKK terrorists, because it was the first country to recognize this organization as a terrorist group. But the thing that’s missing so far is concrete results. What we’re saying is that these terrorists–about 3,500 or 4,000–have been entrenched in northern Iraq for more than 10 years. And they are conducting hit-and-run attacks into Turkey and killing soldiers and civilians. The situation has become u
