US and Turkey seek to mend ties

By Pam O'Toole BBC regional analyst

Two top United States generals have been holding talks in the Turkish capital, Ankara, in an apparent effort to ease the recently strained relations between the two allies.

Abizaid went to Ankara for his first foreign trip since taking up his post

General John Abizaid, the new head of US Central Command which oversees American forces in Iraq, is leaving Ankara on Saturday after discussions with the Turkish military and foreign ministry.

It was his first foreign trip since taking up his post.

On Friday General James Jones, Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe, held separate talks in the Turkish capital.

No details of either meeting has been released.

But if this is the beginning of a fence-mending exercise, there is a lot to repair.

Military friction

The tension which began when the Turkish parliament voted not to allow American troops to use its territory to open a second front in the Iraqi war has been heightened by a series of subsequent incidents.

"Turkish-American relations have never been so low in recent memory," says Henri Berkey of Lehigh University in Pennsylvania.

"But what's interesting is that the problem between the Turks and the Americans is not between the two governments as much as it is between the two militaries.

Many Turks were furious at the US after the detentions in Iraq

"The American Government is particularly upset at the way the Turkish military has behaved during the Iraq war and subsequently."

There are certainly plenty of military issues to discuss.

Both sides will be trying to smooth over the after-effects of a major row which erupted after American forces arrested 11 members of Turkey's special forces in largely Kurdish Northern Iraq earlier this month.

Meanwhile the Turkish military may want to press the Americans to take action against fighters of Turkey's Kurdish separatist group, the PKK, who still have bases in Northern Iraq.

And Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has suggested that the two military delegations could also discuss the possibility of Turkish peacekeepers being sent to Iraq.

The two sides may be hoping that these talks will help to clear the air before Mr Gul himself visits Washington next week.