WASHINGTON (AFP) — General Ergin Saygun, the deputy chief of Turkey's armed forces, will meet top US military officials here this week, the Pentagon said Monday, as US-backed Turkish troops battle Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.
"General Ergin Saygun is here this week," a US Defense Department spokesman said.
"He will be participating in high level defense group meetings and will meet with his counterpart (General James Cartwright, vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff)," the spokesman said.
The spokesman gave no details about the topics of discussion.
But since December, Turkey has conducted a limited ground assault and four air raids in northern Iraq against rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) with US intelligence assistance.
The United States, European Union and Turkey consider the PKK a terrorist organization.
Earlier this month, US President George W. Bush told Turkish President Abdullah Gul after talks at the White House that Washington would keep helping Ankara's military against their "common enemy," the PKK rebels.
The PKK has waged a bloody campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.
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