Bush tries to forestall incursion into Iraq in talks with Turkish PM

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Turkey's prime minister says he came out of his private meeting with US President George W. Bush reassured about prospects for Turkey's showdown with Kurdish rebels. One major result of Monday's discussion between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Bush was establishment of what the president called a framework to deal with the problem of the PKK, the Kurdistan Workers' Party. Turkey and the United States consider the PKK a terror organization. "We talked about the need to have better intelligence-sharing," Bush said after the meeting. "In order to chase down people who murder people you need good intelligence." "And we talked about the need for our military to stay in constant contact. To this end, the prime minister and I have set up a tripartite arrangement," which will include the US commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus. Though Erdogan did not name the partners in the agreement, the United States, Turkey and Iraq would clearly have to work together on the problem.