"U.S. Tells Turks It Won't Fight Kurds
By SUSAN SACHS
Published: January 12, 2005
STANBUL, Jan. 11 - The commander of American forces in the Middle East told the Turkish government on Tuesday that he could not spare any troops to meet its request for an assault on Kurdish guerrillas who have been using northern Iraq as a base for attacks on Turkish forces.
Gen. John P. Abizaid, head of the Army's Central Command, said during a visit in Ankara that the United States considered the main Kurdish separatist group, the P.K.K., a terrorist organization. But, he added, 'we also understand - all of us understand - that our troops have a lot of work to do there along with the Iraqi security forces, and we agree that, over time, we must deal with the P.K.K.'
The general's statement, little different from the assurances given by other American officials over the last year, was unlikely to ease either government or public hostility in Turkey toward American policy in Iraq. "
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