U.S. Fine-tunes Ties With Sparring Allies Turkey, Iraqi Kurds.

WASHINGTON and ANKARA — The United States’ troubled relationship with Turkey is on the mend, thanks to the U.S. decision to provide intelligence that helps Ankara attack Turkish Kurdish separatists inside northern Iraq.

"The Bush administration is trying to find a delicate balance to keep both the Turks and the Kurds satisfied," said Bulent Aliriza, director of the Turkey Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a think tank in Washington. "Turkey is a major ally in the chaotic Middle East, but the Kurds also are Washington’s closest allies in Iraq, so the United States is squeezed between the two. But even if the PKK issue diminishes, there are other outstanding problems."

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