Turkey asks US about weapons 'given to PKK'

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Turkey has asked Washington for an explanation about allegations that separatist Kurdish guerrillas based in Iraq were being supplied with US weapons, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said in remarks published Saturday. The allegations were made earlier this month by two Kurdish rebels - members of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK - who surrendered to Turkish forces and claimed they had seen two US armed vehicles bring weapons to their camps in northern Iraq. The allegations were made in videos released by the Turkish military. Gul told the Milliyet and Radikal newspapers that the US ambassador, Ross Wilson, had been called to the Foreign Ministry where he was asked for an explanation. Gul said he had also brought up the issue with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during a recent telephone conversation. The ambassador's response was that he did not think it was possible that the United States would have supplied any weapons to the PKK, but that he would ask Washington, Gul said.