Iran, Turkey share intel on PKK, PJAK

ANKARA, Turkey, July 30 (UPI) -- Ankara and Tehran have agreed to share intelligence information on the activity of Kurdish guerrillas along their shared border, a ministerial delegate said.

Ankara has been locked in battle with militants from the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, since 1984. Iran, for its part, has fought their counterparts with the Party for Free Life in Kurdistan, or PJAK, along its border with Turkey and Iraq.

Osman Gunes, an undersecretary in the Turkish Interior Ministry, led a delegation to Tehran to discuss shared concerns on Kurdish militants, Turkey's daily newspaper Today's Zaman reports.

Both countries, his delegation said, agreed to provide real-time intelligence on the activity of Kurdish guerrillas in the region, the report added.

U.S. military forces in Iraq had shared intelligence information with Ankara regarding the PKK in 2008.

Officers from the Turkish police department, the Turkish Foreign Ministry and intelligence organizations took part in the talks with Iran.

The report from Turkey said there are around 600 fighters linked to PJAK and another 4,000 tied to the PKK.

Brig. Gen. Hossein Zolfaghari, a commander of Iran's border guards, said his country had no problems with militant activity associated with the PJAK along its border with Turkey.

He said there was "no activity" tied to the Kurdish militant group along its Turkish border, telling the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting network the security situation there was in "good condition."

Security along the border with Iraq, however, was another matter, the general said.