Bush, Turkish PM renew resolve on counter-terrorism

WASHINGTON, Oct 2 (Reuters) US President George W Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan today renewed their resolve to cooperate against terrorism, as Turkey pushes to step up diplomatic pressure on Kurdish guerrillas.

The White House talks came a day after a unilateral cease-fire by the Kurdistan People's Party, PKK, went into effect in its 22-year conflict with the Turkish state.

A grenade attack in a cafe in Izmir, Turkey's third-largest city, wounded at least 15 people, hospital sources and police said today. There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

''We talked about our determined efforts to fight terror and extremism,'' Bush said after a meeting with Erdogan that lasted an hour longer than planned. He also reaffirmed Washington's support for Ankara's efforts to join the European Union.

Sitting at Bush's side, Erdogan mentioned joint steps the two countries have taken against terrorism and said they shared the goal of a ''joint platform'' to combat terrorism worldwide.

Turkish newspapers had reported before Erdogan's Washington visit that he planned to urge the United States to take concrete action to crack down on Kurdish guerrillas in Iraq.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said the two leaders discussed the PKK. ''They talked about the fact that it appears that some of the PKK offices are going to be getting shut down within Iraq,'' he told reporters after the meeting.

But he said they did not talk about Turkey's recent threat of military strikes on the PKK's bases in northern Iraq, where some 5,000 Turkish Kurd militants are based.

Washington, which led a 2003 invasion of Iraq that toppled Saddam Hussein, had warned against intervention in northern Iraq by Turkey, which has NATO's second-largest army.

Ankara blames the PKK, which the United States considers a terrorist organisation, for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an independent Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey.

Erdogan has dismissed the PKK's cease-fire.

Ankara and Washington have appointed coordinators to work together in the fight against the PKK and authorities in northern Iraq have shut down its offices.

Turkey has criticised Iraq for failing to act strongly against the PKK, but Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd, has said the rebel group has no future.

Reuters SBA VP0205