Iran, Turkey to cooperate in combating Kurdish rebels

Ankara and Tehran will closely cooperate in combating terrorism, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, repeating his earlier statements about Iran-Turkey intelligence sharing against terrorist elements in Northern Iraq, Fars News Agency reported.

"We already cooperate in the field of intelligence to combat terrorism," Erdogan said. He also stressed that the operations against terrorists in Northern Iraq will continue till they are neutralized.

Turkey resumed attacks on the terrorist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) after militants' attack in Southeastern Turkey on the evening of August 17, in which nine servicemen were killed.

The Iraqi mountains along the Iranian border are where the PKK has some of its main bases. Militants with the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK, a banned group with links to the PKK, also use Kandil as a springboard for attacks on Iranian territory.

The Iranian ambassador to Turkey said last Friday that a joint military operation in Kandil was "not on the agenda at the moment," but stressed that the two neighbors had "a good dialogue" and cooperation in efforts to combat the militants.

"We believe that Turkey's security is our security. We must eradicate both the PKK and the PJAK," Ambassador Bahman Hosseinpour told reporters during a visit to the Turkish Parliament.

Erdogan said he was likely to pay a visit to Iran in the near future. The Turkish premier met with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York a few days ago.


/Trend/