Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his Iraqi counterpart Nouri al-Maliki hammered out a tentative agreement after tough negotiations in Ankara on Tuesday where by Turkey will shelve its threat to launch a military operation against the PKK terrorists holed up in the Iraqi Kurdish mountains while Baghdad will move to subdue the militants.

Diplomatic sources told The New Anatolian that the operation to tame the terrorists would be conducted in phases by isolating, pacifying and then finishing off the PKK in northern Iraq. The details of this would be discussed when an Iraqi security delegation probably led by the Interior Minister visits Turkey in two weeks time.

Turkey agreed to shelve its plans for a cross border military operation to attack the PKK bases in northern Iraq while Baghdad acknowledged that the PKK is a terrorist organization. In a joint communiqué Iraq agreed to fight all terrorist elements in its territory "including the PKK." Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari who is a Kurd and a senior member of Massoud Barzani's Kurdistan Democratic Party told The New Anatolian that the Kurds can live with this statement.

Until now Iraq has refrained from calling the PKK a terrorist organization while Iraqi officials have acknowledged that the United States and the European Union regard the PKK as a terrorist group.

Turkey insisted on the signing of an anti-terrorism cooperation agreement during Maliki's visit to Ankara but that failed. Senior Iraqi officials told The New Anatolian that the draft sent to Baghdad at short notice was unacceptable to Baghdad. They said it was hard to hammer out an agreement accepted by both sides but an agreement will be concluded within two months once the Iraqi security delegation visits Ankara. Iraqi officials said Kurds representing the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) that runs northern Iraq may also be present in the Iraqi delegation.

In the past Turkey has rejected to talk to an Iraqi delegation that includes representatives of the KRG.

Iraqi officials who attended the talks in Ankara said both Prime Minister Erdogan and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul emphasized several times the importance they attach to bilateral and trilateral talks that include the Americans to solve the security problems.

Iraqi Foreign Minister Zebari agreed that the Maliki visit is a good step which now has to be followed up by concrete steps to solve security issues.

Turkey has threatened to send troops into northern Iraq unless Iraq or the United States cracked down on the PKK, which seeks greater autonomy for mostly Kurdish regions of southeastern Turkey. For decades, the group has maintained bases in Iraq's Kurdish mountains.

The proposed counterterrorism agreement is aimed at forcing Iraq to commit itself officially to fighting the terrorists.

"We have reached an agreement to spend all efforts to end the presence of the Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK in Iraq," Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a news conference Tuesday with his Iraqi counterpart, Nouri al-Maliki.

Erdogan said the leaders signed a memorandum of understanding and agreed to speed up work to finalize a counterterrorism pact.

The United States says the PKK is a terrorist group, but U.S. forces are consumed by chaos elsewhere in Iraq and want to preserve the Kurdish-dominated north as a rare spot of relative stability.

Al-Maliki's already shaky government has been hit with a series of Cabinet desertions by both Shiite and Sunni Arabs, although the Kurdish portion of his coalition has held fast so far. But some members are questioning their participation, and the prime minister may be wary of angering the Kurds.


Maliki promised to cooperate with Turkey in combating Kurdish terrorists.

"We in Iraq are victims of terrorism. We understand what Turkey wants," al-Maliki said. "We have said that we will establish cooperation against all terrorist organizations, prominently against the PKK."

Turkey's patience has been running thin amid escalated PKK attacks that has left about 80 Turkish soldiers dead so far this year.

Turkey recently reinforced its troops on the Iraqi border, and the military said it was waiting for government orders to move in. Turkey's parliament must endorse any cross-border military offensive.

Besides security issues sides also signed protocols for energy and oil cooperation.

Turkey will provide more electricity to Iraq and help in its efforts to develop its natural gas and oil fields. Turkey has also agreed to sell Iraqi gas to Europe through a proposed pipeline.