US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice assured Turkish officials on Friday that Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq were a “common threat” and that the United States would help Ankara in its fight against them.

Speaking after meeting with both Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Foreign Minister Ali Babacan, Rice said she had emphasised that the US is “committed to redoubling its efforts” to help Turkey in its struggle against the rebel fighters.

“We consider this a common threat, not just to the interests of Turkey but to the interests of the United States as well,” she said at a joint news conference with Babacan. “This is going to take persistence and it’s going to take commitment — this is a very difficult problem.” Rice said the US, Turkey and Iraq will counter any attacks on Turkey by Kurdish rebels operating out of northern Iraq.

However, while acknowledging the need for an effective strategy against Kurdish fighters, Rice warned against Turkish military moves that could destabilise northern Iraq. Turkey is threatening a major cross-border operation unless US and Iraqi authorities fulfil pledges to crack down on an estimated 3,000 guerrillas from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers party (PKK) believed to be using northern Iraq as a safe haven for raids into Turkey.

Many Turks are angry with the US for failing to fulfil pledges to crack down on the PKK, designated as a terrorist organisation by the US. Ms Rice said: “We have a common enemy and we are going to act as if we have a common enemy, which means that we are going to work with our Turkish allies and the Iraqis”.

Short-term measures include better information sharing with the Turks and making it harder for the PKK to move around in northern Iraq, Rice said.

“We have certainly been concerned that anything that would destabilise the north of Iraq is not going to be in Turkey’s interests, it is not going to be in our interests and it is not going to be in the Iraqis’ interests,”  Rice said.
The US acknowledged this week that it is flying manned spy planes over the border area, providing Turkey, with more intelligence, and that there are standing orders for American forces to hold fighters they find. Ten PKK members are on a US “most-wanted” database, which means they could be detained.

Senior defence department and state department officials have said Iraq’s Kurdish regional government should cut supplies to the fighters and disrupt their movement over the border. Washington is frustrated by Kurdish inaction. The US defence secretary, Robert Gates, suggested last week that air strikes or major ground assaults would not help much in the absence of information about the fighters’ whereabouts.

Iraqi Kurdish officials have voiced suspicions that Turkey is using the crisis as a pretext for sabre-rattling because it fears a strong Kurdish entity on its borders.