US Welcomes Cooperation between Iraq and Turkey

PUKmedia      20:35      22/4/2008

Today the Foreign Ministers of Iraq, Turkey and the U.S. Secretary of State met for half an hour in the sidelines of a conference of Iraq’s neighbors held in Kuwait.
The ministers discussed the political and security situations in Iraq, the security issue of the bordering areas between Iraq and Turkey, and the question of PKK presence in Kurdistan region.
After the meeting, the U.S. Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, focused on the significance of the Iraq’s stability while she welcomed cooperation between Iraq and Turkey in terms of the political and security developments.
Rice considered the President Talabani’s visit to Turkey as a landmark to diffuse the political and security tensions between Iraq and Turkey. She also urged that Iraq should not be a safe haven for the terrorists, saying PKK is an enemy of Iraq, United Sates, and Turkey.
Later the Iraqi Foreign Minister, Hoshiyar Zebari, said the Turkish incursion into Kurdistan region of Iraq does not serve the stability of the region while his Turkish counterpart, Ali Babacan, said Turkey takes all measures to chase the terrorists, and affirmed Turkey’s intension to serve the peace and stability in Iraq.