Kurdish rebels reject Iraqi president's plea

BAGHDAD - Kurdish rebels yesterday rejected calls by Iraq's president to stop fighting against Turkey and leave Iraqi territory as the visiting Turkish president stepped up pressure on the Baghdad government to act against the group.

President Jalal Talabani made the call Monday during a news conference with visiting Turkish President Abdullah Gul. Talabani, who is a Kurd, said it was in Iraq's interest to remove fighters of the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, from Iraqi soil.

Talabani also called on the rebels to lay down their arms, but he has made similar calls in the past that have been ignored, and the government announced no imminent plans to take action against the rebel group.

The central government has frequently denounced the PKK as terrorists, but it is limited in its ability to act against the rebels, who are based in semiautonomous Kurdish territory in northern Iraq. Baghdad also has been preoccupied with fighting violence elsewhere in Iraq.

"Jalal Talabani doesn't have the authority or the will to utter such words, and we don't take orders from him," PKK spokesman Ahmed Deniz said.

PKK rebels, who stage cross-border raids into Turkish territory from sanctuaries in northern Iraq, have been fighting for autonomy in Turkey's southeast since 1984. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people.

Gul, who arrived Monday on the first trip to Iraq by a Turkish head of state in 33 years, met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki yesterday, according to a government statement. A day earlier, he urged Iraqis to crack down on Kurdish rebels.

"The time has come to remove the element that is a source of trouble," Gul said during Monday's news conference. "We need to engage in a joint struggle to completely eradicate terrorism."

Turkey has carried out several cross-border air strikes against rebel targets and is pressing Baghdad and the Kurdish regional government to step up efforts against the Kurdish rebels from their side.

Tensions escalated last year after the rebels killed about two dozen Turkish soldiers in attacks in October.