Turkey Threatens to Go After PKK in Iraq

The Turkish government threatened Tuesday to send troops cross the Iraqi border to track down Kurdish Workers Party, or PKK, militants.

Prime Minister Recip Tayyip Erdogan met with top ministers following a series of PKK attacks that have killed 15 soldiers in two days, The New Anatolian reported.

Institutions concerned have been given the necessary orders and instructions to make all kinds of legal, economic and political preparations to end the presence of the terror organization in a neighboring country in the upcoming period, including, if necessary, a cross-border operation, a government said in a statement released after the meeting.

In Washington, the Bush administration called for cooperation between Iraq and Turkey against the PKK, Voice of America reported. The State Department released a statement late Monday emphasizing that the administration considers the PKK a terrorist organization.

It is critically important that all sides involved in this, the Iraqis, the Turks — and certainly we will do our part — work to combat terrorism, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.