Iraq's Vice President Visits Turkey for Talks Over Kurdish Rebels

ANKARA, Turkey – Iraq's Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi arrived in Ankara on Tuesday in an apparent attempt to convince Turkey not to stage a cross-border offensive to fight separatist Kurdish rebels based in Iraq.

Al-Hashemi, a Sunni Arab, was scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other senior officials. The Turkish Parliament was expected to approve a motion Wednesday allowing the government to order a cross-border attack over the next year.

"The passage of the motion in Parliament does not mean that an operation will be carried out at once," Erdogan said Tuesday. "Turkey would act with common sense and determination when necessary and when the time is ripe."

Erdogan called on Iraq and Iraqi Kurds to crack down on separatist rebels. He said the regional administration in northern Iraq should "build a thick wall between itself and terrorist organizations."

Erdogan said any action would only target the rebels and Turkey would respect Iraq's territorial integrity.

Washington has urged NATO-ally Turkey not to enter Iraq, fearing that unilateral Turkish military action could destabilize the autonomous Kurdish region in the north which is one of the country's few relatively stable areas. The Kurds are a longtime U.S. ally.

An offensive could also undermine Turkey's relations with the European Union, which has pushed Turkey to treat its minority Kurds better.

But Turkey says some European countries tolerate the activities of PKK sympathizers and is frustrated with the perceived lack of U.S. support in the fight against the PKK.

"We have serious expectations from the U.S. administration on the issue," Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Erdogan said Tuesday.

Turkey's frustration with the perceived lack of U.S. support in the fight against the PKK, branded as terrorists by Washington, has intensified because of another sensitive issue: the killing of up to 1.5 million Armenians in the final years of the Ottoman Empire.

A U.S. House panel approved a resolution last week labeling the killings as genocide, an affront to Turks who deny any systematic campaign to eliminate Armenians at that time. U.S. officials now fear Turkey, a cargo hub for U.S. forces in Iraq, could retaliate by curbing the flow of fuel and other supplies to American bases.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has said she will schedule a vote soon on the resolution.

On Tuesday, however, a top Turkish official said the country should not punish the U.S. administration over the resolution, but instead should impose sanctions against Armenia for supporting the measure.

"Bush and his team should not be punished," Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on CNN-Turk television. "The reaction should be against Pelosi and her team."

Bagis noted that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had lobbied against the measure.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Erdogan compared the resolution to a "summary execution."

"Nobody has the right to judge Turkey like this," Erdogan said. "Those who dare confront an important country like Turkey will pay the price."

Bagis said Turkey should impose sanctions against Armenia because it supported the resolution.

"Turkey must impose sanctions against Armenia," Bagis said. "Turkey has already done a list of what and when it will do, and the prime minister has already given necessary orders."

On Tuesday, however, a top Turkish official said the country should not punish the U.S. administration over a resolution in the U.S. Congress that calls the World War I-era killings of Armenians a genocide, but instead should impose sanctions against Armenia for supporting the measure, a top Turkish official said Tuesday.

A U.S. House of Representatives panel approved a resolution last week labeling the killings as genocide, an affront to Turks who deny any systematic campaign to eliminate Armenians at that time.

U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said she would schedule a vote soon on the resolution. U.S. President George W. Bush opposed it.

"Bush and his team should not be punished," Egemen Bagis, a foreign policy adviser to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on CNN-Turk television. "The reaction should be against Pelosi and her team."

Bagis noted that U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Robert Gates had lobbied against the measure.

In a televised speech on Tuesday, Erdogan compared the resolution to a "summary execution."

"Nobody has the right to judge Turkey like this," Erdogan said. "Those who dare confront an important country like Turkey will pay the price."

Bagis said Turkey should impose sanctions against Armenia because it supported the resolution.

"Turkey must impose sanctions against Armenia," Bagis said. "Turkey has already done a list of what and when it will do, and the prime minister has already given necessary orders."

Turkey staged several incursions in the 1990s but they failed to stamp out rebel hideouts.

A Turkish soldier was killed Tuesday when he stepped on a mine, believed to have been planted by Kurdish rebels, near the southeastern city of Bingol, local authorities said.

PKK rebels have demanded autonomy in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed tens of thousands of lives.