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US should help more with rebels: Turkish official

Ankara is not getting enough support from the US in its fight against Kurdish rebels operating from bases in northern Iraq, Turkey's foreign minister said on Friday.

Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul urged Iraq and the US to wipe out bases in Iraq operated by the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK -- warning that patience in Ankara is wearing thin.

"We hope the level of cooperation from the US against the guerrillas will increase," Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said. "It is not at the desired level right now."

"We have the right to expect help from the US in Iraq against the guerrillas," he said.

The Turkish military says up to 3,800 Kurdish rebels seeking a separate Kurdish state are based just across the border in Iraq, and that up to 2,300 operate inside Turkey. Tens of thousands of people have died since the rebels began fighting for a separate state in 1984.

Turkey has run out of patience over the safe haven Kurdish rebels enjoy in neighboring northern Iraq, but there are no immediate plans for a cross-border military operation into the region, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said on Friday.

"Our patience has run out ... but timing is important. What matters is to obtain results," Gul said in an interview with the NTV news channel.

The Turkish army says a military incursion into northern Iraq is needed to clamp down on bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and stop the infiltration of rebels armed with weapons and explosives for attacks on Turkish targets.

Public pressure on the government to step up the fight against the PKK mounted after a suicide bomber authorities believe was a PKK member blew himself up at a busy shopping centre in downtown Ankara on Tuesday, killing six people and wounding 121.

Ankara is increasingly frustrated by US and Iraqi reluctance to act to curb the PKK in northern Iraq, an autonomous region run by the Iraqi Kurds.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Ankara says the Iraqi Kurds who run an autonomous administration in northern Iraq tolerate -- and even assist -- thousands of PKK rebels who have found refuge in their region.

The militants, it says, obtain weapons and explosives there for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.

Gul told NTV that Ankara did not expect much from the central government in Baghdad because it was already overwhelmed by the insurgency in Iraq.

He said, however, the US and the Iraqi Kurds, who control northern Iraq, should act against the PKK.

"Either you prevent illegal activities on your soil or if you are not powerful enough, the occupation forces there... should prevent them. If they cannot do it either, then we, who are the ones to suffer, will do it," Gul said.

"We have the right to expect cooperation on the highest level from the United States," he said. "Our cooperation is not on the desired level at the moment."

Washington has warned Ankara against a cross-border operation in northern Iraq, wary that such a move may destabilize a relatively peaceful region.
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