Powell fails to win pledge over Kurds

Colin Powell, the Secretary of State, began mending fences yesterday between the US and Turkey. But he failed to secure a cast-iron assurance that Turkey will not move military forces into northern Iraq to throttle any separatist movement by local Kurds.

Instead, Washington and Ankara have agreed on an "early warning" system designed to head off friction involving the Iraqi Kurds, who Turkey fears could use the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime to make a bid for independence and stir fresh unrest in heavily Kurdish south-eastern Turkey.

After talks in Ankara with the Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul, General Powell said US special forces, and the 1,000-plus troops parachuted into northern Iraq last week, now had the situation under control. "There is no need for the movement of troops across the border," he said.

Under the early warning system, senior Turkish and US officials would make contact as soon as tensions arose. Ankara wants to avoid a repeat of what happened after the 1991 Gulf War when Saddam Hussein suppressed a Kurdish uprising, sending huge numbers of refugees into Turkey.

This time there has been little sign of anything similar, as Iraqi forces have retreated from their most forward positions in northern Iraq. The Iraqi Kurds meanwhile have promised not to try to seize the oil-rich city of Kirkuk, which the Turkish government has said would be unacceptable.

General Powell's visit is a start towards repairing relations with a vital ally. Ankara's refusal to allow America to use its bases to launch a northern front against Baghdad cast the worst chill over relations since the US imposed an arms embargo after Turkey's 1974 invasion of northern Cyprus.

The Secretary of State did win agreement from Turkey to speed humanitarian aid into Iraq and the delivery of fuel to coalition forces.