Turkey authorises Iraq strike
Cabinet okays cross-border action, but PM silent on whether attack is imminent.
US talks
Senior Turkish and US military commanders held two rounds of talks in Ankara, Turkey’s capital, last week to discuss joint efforts against the PKK, including enhanced intelligence-sharing on rebel movements.
Turkish-US work on intelligence-sharing “is continuing in harmony”, Erdogan said.
Keen to head off a large-scale Turkish cross-border operation, the US and the Iraqi Kurds, who control northern Iraq, have agreed to step up measures to curb the PKK.
After talks with Erdogan at the White House in early November, George Bush, the US president, called the PKK a common enemy and promised to provide Turkey with real-time intelligence on their movements.
Bush’s pledge was largely seen as tacit US approval for limited cross-border Turkish strikes, mainly air raids, against the PKK.