ANKARA - Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim Jaafari said Friday that Baghdad would hold talks with Damascus soon to demand action against insurgents infiltrating from Syria and warned that his country would not tolerate threats from its neighbours.
"There are some armed groups infiltrating from Syria. We will talk about how much the Syrian government knows about these infiltrations," Jaafari told reporters here after meeting his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
"There will be a visit to Syria soon and one of the dossiers will be security," he said through a translator.
The United States has repeatedly accused Syria of aiding the Iraqi insurgency by supplying foreign fighters or failing to prevent militants from crossing the border into Iraq, a charge Damascus denies.
After a suprise visit to Iraq, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice warned Monday that the United States, which imposed economic sanctions on Syria last May, would renew pressure on the country.
US military officials in Baghdad have charged that Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the top al-Qaeda leader in Iraq, met with top lieutenants in Syria recently and ordered them to step up car bombings in Iraq.
"We want to strengthen ties with all countries, primarily our neighbours, but we will never accept anything that harms our economy and security," said Jaafari, who is in Turkey on his first visit abroad since he came to power last month.
He said Baghdad would implement a number of measures, including border controls, monitoring insurgent groups and asking neighbouring countries to prevent infiltrations.
Jaafari also sought to dispel Ankara's concerns over an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurdish rebels hiding in northern Iraq who recently called off a unilateral truce with Turkey in a bloody campaign that has already claimed some 37,000 lives.
Turkish officials are frustrated that no action has so far been taken against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), and charges that the rebels are infiltrating back into Turkish territory in growing numbers to commit acts of violence.
Turkey was expected to ask Jaafari to act on a list of wanted PKK militants that it has handed both to Baghdad and the US forces in Iraq, according to Osman Korutuk, Turkey's top diplomat dealing with Iraq.
"In line with the principle of good neighbourly relations, we will never allow any group to harm the security, economy and politics of a neighbouring country," Jaafari said.
Erdogan said he welcomed Jaafari's pledge to "take common action" against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and said: "Our aim is to prevent Iraq from becoming a training ground for terrorists," he said.
Erdogan also underlined that the countries were unanimous on preserving Iraq's territorial integrity.
"We see that the Iraqi administration is determined to establish unity and peace by bringing different groups together and not allowing one ethnic group to establish superiority over another," he added.
Turkey suspects Iraqi Kurds of plotting to break away from Iraq and set up an independent state with its capital in the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which is claimed by the Kurds as well as the Turkmens, an Iraqi minority of Turkish descent.
Ankara fears that such a move would fan separatism among its own Kurdish community.
Jaafari flew into Turkey with a large ministerial delegation, including the ministers of oil, finance, trade, electricity, industry and water resources, who held talks with their Turkish counterparts to discuss concrete steps to help Iraq's reconstruction.
The two sides have already agreed to increase Turkey's electricity sales to Iraq from about 200 megawatts now to 350 megawatts by the end of the month and to 1,200 by the end of the year, a Turkish official said.
Jafari is schdeuled to meet Turkish parliament speaker Bulent Arinc on Saturday before flying back home.
05/20/2005 17:02 GMT