Source is "Turkish news papers"... Fred
Trip of General Richard Myers to Turkey failed because the Turkish MIT (intelligence) provided evidence that the US intelligence service is keeping contacts with the Kurdish terror organisation PKK/Kadek (on the US terror list).
Chairman of the Turkish Joint Chiefs of Staff general Hilmi Özkök expressed to general Myers his discomfort about US contacts with leading members of a terrorist organisation. Especially after the US fight against terror of sept 11th, this event showed a serious contrast of honesty in the war against terror.
Turkish intelligence sources have confirmed that some senior US officials had held talks with representatives of the outlawed PKK-KADEK, which has conducted an 18 year long campaign of separatist terror against Turkey.
It is believed that the contacts took place in Northern Iraq. Washington has denied that any talks were conducted by government officials, saying that those who had met with PKK-KADEK members had no link with the US government. Ankara has warned that such meetings are contradictory to the US-led international campaign to combat terrorism, launched after the September 11 2001 attacks in the US. The issue of the meetings was brought up during the recent visit of the US head of the Joints Chiefs of Staff, General Richard Myers, to Ankara by the Chief of the Turkish General Staff, General Hilmi Özkok. |