Turkey seeks U.S. help with Kurdish separatists in Iraq

Kurd separatist fighters in Iraq

ISTANBUL (Reuters) - Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan will urge the United States to take concrete action to crack down on Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq, newspapers said on Sunday, as a unilateral rebel ceasefire went into effect.

Amid growing violence in Turkey's southeast and a diplomatic push to break up the group, the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) on Saturday announced a halt to hostilities from northern Iraq, where some 5,000 of its Turkish Kurd militants are based.

Analysts said it was an opportunity to halt a 22-year-old separatist conflict which has killed more than 30,000 people. They warned violence would continue if steps were not taken in the political arena to solve the country's Kurdish problem.

Erdogan has dismissed the ceasefire. He said the PKK issue would be at the top of his agenda when he meets President Bush in Washington on Monday amid Turkish perceptions of a U.S. failure to act against the outlawed group.

Read the rest at the Washington Post

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