For his part, Bush said he would share U.S. intelligence on the PKK with
Ankara. The president said Washington would help in the war against the
Kurdish insurgency, Middle East Newsline reported.
"We talked about the need to have better intelligence sharing," Bush
said. "In order to chase down people who murder people, you need good
intelligence. We talked about the need for our militaries to stay in
constant contact."
Officials said the U.S. military in Iraq has been coordinating with air
control centers in Turkey to avoid any clash along the Iraqi border. They
said Turkey and the United States have also agreed on air operations
procedures.
"As far as regarding the situation in Turkey, we are in close
coordination with the CAOCs, the air control centers up in Turkey, as well,
with our folks to ensure that we have deconfliction between us," U.S. Air
Force Maj. Gen. David Edgington, director of the Air Component Coordination
Element for Multi-National Force Iraq, said. "We have agreed upon procedures
where neither side would misunderstand a close border incident with flights,
and we've increased our, again, communication based on the sensitivity of
the situation."
Analysts said they expect Turkey to launch a limited operation in
northern Iraq, consisting largely of air attacks, over the next few weeks.
They said the operation would be based on targets provided by U.S.
intelligence.
"The countdown to a cross-border operation has now begun," analyst Derya
Sazak wrote in the Milliyet daily on Tuesday.
Turkey has amassed about 100,000 troops along the border with Iraq amid
a reported flight of most PKK fighters from their bases in northern Iraq.
Still, some military experts said Erdogan would do his best to prevent any
major military incursion.
"I said before the meeting between Erdogan and Bush that there would not
be a cross-border operation, and nothing I have seen since has changed my
mind," [Ret.] Maj. Gen. Armagan Kuloglu said.
