Anxious Turkey vows support for a united Iraq

ANKARA, Nov 16 (Reuters) Turkey pledged support for neighbouring Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki today, on the condition that his embattled government works to preserve the country's territorial unity.

Ankara's terms underscored Turkish fears that the sectarian violence which threatens to rip Iraq apart, could plunge the whole region into chaos. Turkey especially fears the advent of a Kurdish state in northern Iraq which could fan separatism among its own Kurds.

''We told them (the Iraqi delegation) we are ready to provide cultural and commercial support, provided that the unity of the Iraqi people is preserved,'' Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan told a joint news conference with Maliki after talks.

''For us, it is essential that Iraq's problems are solved by consensus to ensure the country's security and stability... Iraq's territorial and political integrity are essential.'' Erdogan said Turkey, a NATO member and European Union candidate whose territory provides crucial land routes for Iraqi energy exports to the West, was ready to train more Iraqi soldiers and policemen.

Maliki, visiting Ankara with seven of his ministers to forge greater trust and closer trade ties, tried to reassure his hosts that Iraq would not allow its territory to be used by separatist Turkish Kurdish rebels battling Turkish security forces.

''Iraq will never be a refuge for forces threatening our neighbours,'' he said.

Ankara has long urged Iraqi and US forces to crack down on an estimated 5,000 guerrillas of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) operating out of mountains in mainly Kurdish northern Iraq.

Maliki recalled that his government recently shut down PKK offices in Iraq, but Erdogan demanded further concrete measures.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 35,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for a Kurdish homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Maliki, a Shi'ite, stressed his commitment to Iraq's political and ethnic unity, saying its oil revenues must be shared equitably among all sections of the population.

He also tried to reassure Turkey over oil-rich Kirkuk, a contested city in northern Iraq that Ankara fears the Kurds want to control, possibly as capital of a future Kurdish state.

''Kirkuk is an Iraqi city and it will remain so,'' he said.

Erdogan called for a plan to fix Kirkuk's final status that would not allow any one ethnic group to dominate it.

REUTERS SK PM0011