Gates backs Turkey's PKK fight

ANKARA, Turkey, Feb. 8 (UPI) -- Washington supports Ankara in its effort to tackle Kurdish guerrillas, but military action is not the only solution available, the U.S. defense secretary said.

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates met with Turkish officials in Ankara during the weekend, saying he would propose a supporting role for the military effort against guerrillas with the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, operating along the Iraqi border with Turkey, Voice of America reports.

"I offered, during my visit here, to, when I return to Washington, to see if there are more capabilities we can share with Turkey, in terms of taking on this threat," he said.

Washington in 2007 offered to share sensitive intelligence with Ankara regarding PKK activity inside Iraqi territory.

Gates, striking a common theme in U.S. counterinsurgency strategy, said Ankara could find success by trying to convince some PKK fighters to lay down their weapons.

"Trying to identify those in the PKK who are prepared to rejoin society and abandon violence, and to reach out to them is a very positive thing," he said.

Ankara in 2009 embraced a democratic initiative meant to allay the concerns from the Kurdish minority community in Turkey. An amnesty offer was considered for PKK guerrillas.

That effort was complicated, however, by a Turkish court decision to ban a pro-Kurdish political party from politics, sparking widespread protests in the Kurdish south in December.