US to provide drones to Turkey

The United States has agreed in principle to deploy US Predator drones on Turkish soil to aid in the fight against Kurdish separatist rebels, Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan said. The US military flies unarmed surveillance Predators based in Iraq and shares images and vital intelligence with Turkey to aid Ankara as it battles Kurdish Kurdistan Workers'' Party (PKK) rebels who have camps in northern Iraq. Erdogan, speaking to reporters in New York where he attended a UN General Assembly meeting, said Turkey has offered to buy or lease the drones and that details are being worked out. US troops are due to leave Iraq at the end of 2011. Turkish officials have expressed concern the PKK, which has bases in northern Iraq, might exploit any security vacuum left by the departure of the US military from Iraq. Security experts say Turkey is very dependent on the Predators and other spy aircraft in its fight against the PKK, which is listed as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the United States and the European Union. Turkey, a NATO ally for the United States, agreed earlier this month to host a NATO early-warning radar system as part of the defences of the Western military alliance. The Turkish military has launched air strikes and artillery raids against suspected PKK hideouts in northern Iraq in retaliation for a spate of militant attacks inside Turkey, despite opposition from Iraq''s regional Kurdish government. The PKK has fought for Kurdish self-rule for more than 27 years in a conflict that has killed 40,000 people.