The White House said Thursday it was closely monitoring Turkey's military campaign against separatist Kurdish fighters based in northern Iraq and strongly backed Ankara's refusal to negotiate with the rebels. Spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters Washington was “encouraged” by talks between Ankara and Baghdad about efforts to “beat back” fighters from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). “We … continue to watch the situation in northern Iraq. As we have said before, the PKK is a common enemy. We have been strongly supporting Turkey in its efforts to combat the PKK,” Perino said. “We have encouraged dialogue and coordination between the United States, Turkey, and Iraq, but we have not and we will not negotiate or hold talks with the PKK, nor do we expect Turkey to do so.”
