Bush to receive Turkey's Erdogan despite chilly relations

WASHINGTON - Rebel Kurds will top the agenda when US President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet Wednesday despite cool relations after Ankara refused involvement in the Iraq war.
"For more than two years, US-Turkish diplomacy has been a comedy of errors," said Michael Rubin, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.
"Mistakes cannot be undone and the relationship will take years to rebuild."
Erdogan will ask the US president to take more specific action against rebels from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which conducts raids into Turkey from Iraqi Kurdistan.
"US military authorities in Iraq fear provoking terrorism against American forces and do not appreciate the damage PKK terrorists have wrought since their June 1, 2004 cease-fire abandonment," Rubin pointed out in a recent article.
The head of the chiefs of staff of the Turkish military, General Hilkmi Ozkok, complained in late April about US inaction in the face of the PKK, and warned against Iraqi Kurds taking control of the Iraqi oil town of Kirkuk.
Ankara is concerned that Iraqi Kurds, who have enjoyed virtual independence since the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime, will make Kirkuk the capital of a sovereign Kurdish state and thus fan the flames of Kurdish separatism in Turkey proper and purge the city's Turkmen inhabitants.
But Washington appears less inclined to act because memories of Iraq's refusal to allow US troops to use Turkish territory in the run-up to the March 2003 invasion of Iraq are still fresh.
Visiting Turkey about a year ago to take part in a NATO summit, Bush sought to repair the damage, calling Turkey an example for the Muslim world and voicing his support for Turkey's admission to the European Union.
In April, Turkey allowed the United States to use its southern Incirlik Air Base for logistical support of troops operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.
As it announced Erdogan's visit to Washington at the end of May, the White House said the meeting "will provide an opportunity to invigorate US-Turkish cooperation with respect to Turkeys European Union aspirations, and to strengthen our work together to advance freedom in Iraq and the broader Middle East, Central Asia and the Caucasus."
The United States and Turkey have common energy interests as was displayed two weeks ago by the inauguration of a pipeline linking Azerbaijan with Turkey through Georgia.
The pipeline avoids Russian territory in shipping Caspian oil to Western markets and alleviate maritime traffic through the Turkish straits.
But problems with ratification of the European Union constitution are likely to delay negotiations on Turkey's admission to the union.
The possibility of a settlement of the Cypriot problem also appears to be remote after Greek Cypriots rejected a UN peace plan in an April 2004 referendum.
By contrast, the Turkish Cypriot community has approved the plan.
After visiting Washington, Erdogan will go to New York for a meeting on Cyprus with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan.

06/07/2005 12:09 GMT