U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said the United States had never supported the terrorist organization of PKK, AA reported.
Appearing in a televised interview on CNN Turk on Saturday, Clinton said the U.S. had condemned the PKK on every occasion, adding that the U.S. had extended strong support to the Turkish government to eradicate PKK terrorism.
Clinton also said the U.S. had strongly condemned Thursday's terrorist attack on Turkish security forces that killed 13 troops and wounded seven others in the southeastern province of Diyarbakir.
The U.S. secretary said for a democratic process to function properly, opinion holders must denounce violence and announce that they were not related to it.
"On the one hand there are peaceful protests and political participation but on the other there is violence. It is important to understand the difference between these two," Clinton said.
Clinton rejected criticisms and suspicions among Turks that the U.S. failed to do enough to stop the PKK, saying, "this is absolutely wrong. May be we need to exert more efforts to explain our cooperation. our support to the Turkish military circles, our intelligence support and our joint efforts had made a great deal of progress."
Clinton also added that the U.S. had included the PKK on its terrorist organizations list, adding that the U.S supported policies that Turkish government pursued toward Turkey's Kurdish people.
"Turkey's Kurds can feel themselves as an integral part of Turkey and at the same time they might want to preserve the Kurdish identity which is important for them. The line here has be drawn at violence and terrorism," she said.