Turkey wants action against Kurd rebels

ANKARA (AFP) – Ankara expects the United States to take action against Turkish Kurd rebels based in northern Iraq in return for sending Turkish peacekeepers to the war-torn country, a senior minister indicated Thursday. "Turkey expects the United States to hand over to Turkey the militants whom it has declared terrorists," Justice Minister and government spokesman Cemil Cicek told NTV television in an interview.

An estimated 5,000 armed members of the Kurdish Labour Party (PKK), which has waged a 15-year separatist war on Ankara, are said to be hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq. The group this month announced it was abandoning its four-year unilateral ceasefire.