"Ties with U.S. will be intact,Turkey insists
From combined dispatches
ANKARA, Turkey � U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Monday reviewed touchy regional issues that have led to coolness between their countries, but Mr. Gul said ties between the two NATO allies, described by both parties as a 'strategic partnership,' will remain intact.
One of the reasons for the chill in bilateral ties is the presence in northern Iraq of an estimated 5,000 militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) that Turkey holds responsible for a civil conflict that claimed about 37,000 lives in the country's southeast from 1984 to 1999. "
More:Ties with U.S. will be intact,Turkey insists - The Washington Times: World Briefings - January 05, 2005
