Turkey threatens attack after Iraqi talks fail

Turkish-Iraqi talks collapsed on Friday evening after Ankara rejected a series of proposals by Iraqi Defence Minister General Abdel Qader Jassim to tackle Kurdish guerrillas as insufficient and taking too long to take effect.

Officials told Reuters that no further talks were planned and the Iraqi delegation, including US military and Iraqi Kurdish officials, would leave on Saturday.

US and Iraqi diplomatic efforts have been stepped up in recent days to try to dissuade NATO member Turkey from launching a major cross-border operation against Kurdistan Workers Party PKK guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

Turkey has massed up to 1,00,000 troops, backed by fighter jets, helicopter gunships, tanks, and mortars, on the frontier before a possible offensive against about 3,000 PKK rebels using Iraq as a base from which to carry out deadly attacks in Turkey.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan took a swipe at western countries on Saturday for not helping Turkey fight the PKK,criticising what he called an approach of 8220;your terrorist is good, my terrorist is bad8221;.

8220;We want to see our western friends by our side in our fight against terror,8221; he told a conference in Istanbul. 8220;Those who overlook terrorism are in cooperation with terrorism.8221; Erdogan meanwhile played down comments by Turkey8217;s top general that the military was waiting for Erdogan to meet US President George W Bush in Washington on November 5 before launching a major incursion.

Army sources told Reuters on Saturday that military planes were running reconnaissance trips along the mountainous border.