Pakistan, Turkey talk security
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On Tuesday, Musharraf will make the first address to the Turkish parliament by a Pakistani leader.
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ANKARA, Turkey (Reuters) -- Pakistan and Turkey, two Muslim nations battered by militant violence, will pool resources in the battle against Islamic extremists.
Officials said an agreement on "terrorism and crime" was one of three accords due to be signed during President Pervez Musharraf's three-day visit to NATO member Turkey on Tuesday.
Musharraf maintains close personal ties with Turkey. He lived there for a while as a youth and speaks some Turkish.
"It is a joint endeavor between Turkey and Pakistan that terrorism should be rooted out," Pakistan's ambassador in Ankara, Sher Afgan Khan, told the Turkish Daily News in an interview published on Monday.
"The decision is there, the commitment is there and cooperation with Turkey will be very welcome."
Musharraf, who has survived two recent assassination attempts blamed on Islamic extremists opposed to his support for the U.S.-led "war on terror," arrived in Ankara on Monday night amid tight security.
A wave of coordinated suicide bombings claimed by al Qaeda killed at least 61 people in Istanbul in November, and Turkish press reports said some of the militants behind the attacks had been trained in extremist camps in Pakistan.
Washington sees both countries as key strategic allies. Turkey in particular it views as a model "Muslim democracy" that should be emulated elsewhere. Ankara portrays itself to the European Union it seeks to join as a potential channel to strengthen European influence in the Islamic world.
It was not clear what kind of co-operation had been agreed.
Both countries maintain strong intelligence services that co-operate closely with U.S. agencies. Turkish intelligence has in the past been very active in Afghanistan, which neighbors Pakistan, and is eager to trace any links between domestic Islamic militants and groups beyond Turkey's frontiers.
On Tuesday, Musharraf will meet Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan and make the first address to the Turkish parliament by a Pakistani leader. On Wednesday he visits Istanbul, Turkey's economic hub, before leaving on Thursday for the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
Against al Qaeda
Erdogan is himself viewed with some suspicion by the armed forces which, as in Pakistan, have traditionally played a key role in politics. The generals are wary of his roots in political Islam though his policies are strongly pro-Western.
Khan said Musharraf would discuss the situation in Afghanistan where Turkey has sent troops as part of a NATO force trying to stabilize the country after the ouster of the Taliban regime by U.S.-backed forces in late 2001.
Both Turkey and Pakistan were asked to contribute troops to U.S.-led forces in Iraq after the fall of President Saddam Hussein. Ankara initially agreed but subsequently withdrew the offer in the face of Iraqi opposition, while Pakistan has declined in the absence of a U.N.-endorsed force.
Khan said Pakistan backed Turkish opposition to Kurdish autonomy under Iraq's new political system, which Ankara fears could stir similar aspirations among its own Kurdish minority.
The United States says Iraq's future political system is a matter for the Iraqis.
"If you in Turkey are not happy with a particular political development, you will always find us behind you," the newspaper quoted Khan as saying. "(The) territorial integrity of Iraq should be maintained as it was before the invasion."
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
