Rice vows backing for Turkey against PKK

Ankara: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Friday fighting Kurdish militants in northern Iraq would demand persistence and commitment but vowed to redouble US efforts to help Turkey tackle the problem.

"This is going to take persistence, it is going to take commitment. This is a very difficult problem... Rooting out terrorism is hard," Rice told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan after talks.

"No one should doubt the commitment of the United States to this issue ... We have a common enemy and we need a common approach," she added.

Rice said she and Babacan had discussed elements of a comprehensive plan aimed at combating the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), whose militants use northern Iraq as a launchpad for attacks on targets inside Turkey.

Babacan said Rice's visit to Turkey should mark the start of closer cooperation between the NATO allies against the PKK.

"This is where the words end and action needs to start," Babacan said.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since the group launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Turkey has massed up to 100,000 troops along its mountainous border with Iraq, backed up by tanks, artillery and aircraft, in preparation for a possible cross-border military incursion.

Washington and Baghdad have urged Ankara to refrain from any large-scale military action, fearing this would destabilize the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.

Rice arrived in Turkey on Friday to talk Ankara out of its threat of launching a cross-border military action in northern Iraq.

Security was heavy at Ankara's Esenboga airport for Rice's arrival. Snipers were dispatched at the complex, while sniffer dogs searched for explosives.

"Anything that would destabilise the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey's interest," Rice said during a stopover in Ireland on the way to Ankara.

"It is not going to be in our interest. It is not going to be in Iraq's interest," she said, offering "effective strategy" against Kurdish rebels in Iraq instead.

Rice will also meet Turkish President Abdullah Gul,and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan before she will head to Istanbul for talks with the Iraqi prime minister.