PKK puts NATO allies Ankara and Iraq in quandary

"Without good intelligence, sending large numbers of troops across the border or dropping bombs doesn't seem to make much sense to me," Turkish strikes against Kurdish terrorists on its border with Iraq made little sense without "good intelligence", said US Defense Secretary Robert Gates Wednesday.

"Actionable intelligence is something that we can provide," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino, who referred reporters to US-led forces in Iraq for any details on help for the Turkish military.

"Turkey should think twice before launching a military intervention," Manuel Lobo Antunes, the European affairs minister of Portugal, told the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Lisbon currently holds the EU presidency.

In Berlin, the United States' assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs Daniel Fried said the Kurdish administration in Iraq's autonomous north had to do more to weed out PKK rebels.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer said alliance member Turkey was "showing remarkable restraint under the present circumstances."

"The allies expressed full solidarity with Turkey in the face of these
horrible terrorist attacks against Turkish soldiers and civilians," he
said.

"We're working to resolve diplomatically what is a very difficult problem," department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding: "We do not believe that unilateral Turkish actions are the way to resolve this."

Bush had told Gul that US officials were seriously looking into options beyond diplomacy.

US officials have considered launching cruise missile against PKK targets, but air strikes using manned aircraft were an easier option, one unidentified official told the Tribune.

On Telephone call Monday with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul,
US President George W. Bush had offered support for Turkish efforts to counter deadly attacks by the PKK.

McCormack reaffirmed that authorities in Baghdad and Iraq's Kurdish north should also do more against the PKK, "regardless of their ethni ties," and that "we should exhaust all diplomatic avenues."

McCormack also welcomed Maliki's order to close PKK offices, saying "it's a start" but calling anew for concrete action from Iraqi authorities to prevent PKK attacks and ultimately, "to dismantle and eliminate" the terrorist group.

A possible joint operation was raised by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as he flew to Britain on Monday.

"We may conduct a joint operation with the United States against the PKK in northern Iraq ... We expect to work jointly, just as we do in Afghanistan,"

Erdogan told reporters on the plane. Iraq "must cooperate in fighting terror," Erdogan said, and complained of Turkey's "good will being abused."

Erdogan said sanctions could take the form of export restrictions on vital products Turkey supplies to its southern neighbor, Anatolia reported.

He cited Turkey's "important contributions" in supplying Iraq with
power, water, food, household appliances and electronics.

Tension between Ankara and Baghdad has risen since a weekend attack by the terrorists Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) on a Turkish military patrol along the border that killed 12 soldiers.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani denied a Turkish report that he had offered to extradite PKK leaders based inside Iraq.

"We have said several times that the leaders of the PKK are not staying in Kurdish cities of Iraq but they live with 1,000 of their fighters in the rugged Qandil mountains," said a statement from his office.

"It is impossible to arrest them and deliver them to Turkey." Qandil mountains are located along the Iraq-Turkey border, north of the city of Sulaimaniyah, a stronghold of Talabani's Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.

Erdogan has threatened military action in northern Iraq unless Baghdad clamps down on PKK bases there and turns over the terrorist leaders that Ankara accuses of masterminding cross-border attacks on its military.