Turkish Chief of General Staff Gen. Ilker Basbug said Turkey was determined to eradicate the banned Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq, the semi-official Anatolia news agency reported on Tuesday.
"It is not possible to eliminate the terrorist organization totally unless PKK presence in north of Iraq is rooted out from there," Basbug was quoted as saying when addressing a conference on Turkey-U.S. relations, Xinhua reported.
He noted that north of Iraq was no more a nest for the PKK organization as of December 2007, adding that the presence of terrorist PKK organization in north of Iraq posed a threat not only to Turkey but also to Iraq.
"This presence at the same time has some negative impacts on Turkish-U.S. relations," he said.
Basbug expressed pleasure over cooperation and coordination with the United States in dealing with PKK and appreciated U.S. intelligence support.
He said, "the biggest threats the world faces today are violence and terrorist, and radical views lying behind. Security also globalized in the world. Global peace and security either exist everywhere in the world or no where in the world."