Didim Today

FBI director Robert Mueller met with Turkish officials here Wednesday to discuss joint efforts in combating separatist Kurdish rebels, the US embassy said. Mueller's agenda focused on "our ongoing and important cooperation on counter-terrorism and law enforcement matters," the statement said, asserting US support for Turkey's struggle against the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by both countries.

"We are looking forward to an exchange of views on opportunities for even closer and more effective cooperation in our common struggle against terror and law-breakers," it said. Media reports said that using Turkey as a possible transit route for US troops being pulled out from Iraq was also on Mueller's agenda.

The FBI chief met with Deputy Prime Minister Cemil Cicek, Justice Minister Sadullah Ergin and Turkey's police chief Oguz Kagan Koksal.

Since December 2007, the US has backed Turkish air raids against PKK hideouts in neighbouring northern Iraq by providing intelligence on rebel movements.

Ankara is currently working on fresh reforms to expand Kurdish freedoms in a bid to erode popular support for the PKK. The rebels took up arms in the mainly-Kurdish southeast in 1984, sparking a conflict that has claimed about 45,000 lives.

Source - Javno reported.