Kurdish Rebels Release Soldiers Ahead of Talks

Nov 05, 06:44 AM

Current Headlines: By C. ONUR ANT

By C. Onur Ant

The Associated Press

ISTANBUL, Turkey

Kurdish rebels released eight Turkish soldiers Sunday on the eve of a meeting between the Turkish prime minister and President Bush that aims to avert a cross-border offensive against guerrilla bases in northern Iraq.

The soldiers' plight had been featured daily in Turkish newspapers, and their release removed a key source of domestic pressure on Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to send troops into neighboring Iraq.

However, Turkey was unlikely to ease demands for tough action against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, known as the PKK, which is believed to have several mountain hideouts along the Iraq-Turkey border.

Turkey wants the United States to take specific measures to stop the group from using the ungoverned border region as a staging area for attacks in its decades-long war for political autonomy for Turkey's Kurdish minority.

The PKK has killed more than 40 Turks in the past month.

Turkey has ruled out talks with the PKK and has dismissed past overtures by the rebels as attempts only to improve their image or to undercut the Turkish military and political pressure.

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