Xinhua - Editor: Wang Yan - ANKARA, July 23In the telephone talks, Rice told Gul that the U.S. administration comprehended the seriousness of the situation on the PKK issue and thus would do whatever necessary on this issue, said Anatolia.
For his part, Gul said that a tangible result should be obtained on the issue of the PKK organization soon.
The two sides also discussed the Middle East issues, especially the latest development of Israel-Lebanon conflict.
Rice expressed U.S. satisfaction and gratitude over the cooperation of Turkey displayed in evacuation of U.S. citizens from Lebanon.
Reports reaching here from Washington said that U.S. President George W. Bush had also phoned Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on recent PKK militants' attacks in Turkey and "the need to work jointly to address that terrorist threat".
The high-level phone talks between the two sides came after a diplomatic friction happened in the past week when Erdogan on Tuesday slammed U.S. ambassador Ross L. Wilson's statement over Turkish cross-border military operation into northern Iraq.
On Monday, Wilson said that Israel was exercising its right to self-defense by making incursions into Lebanon, but Turkey should not carry out similar cross-border operation "unilaterally" into Iraq.
The remarks drew dissatisfaction of Erdogan, who justified that "such a decision is taken by the Turkish government and the authorized institutions of Turkey, not by the ambassador. We decide and implement the decision."
Turkey has repeatedly called on U.S. forces in Iraq to take "concrete" action against the PKK militants based in northern Iraq. But the U.S. officials have claimed that stability must be restored and a government should first be formed in Iraq before the PKK is tackled.
In early 1990s, the Turkish army crossed the border to combat the PKK militants based in Iraq.
Turkish intelligence sources believe that nearly 4,000-5,000PKK militants are hiding in the mountainous northern Iraq, from where PKK's terrorist activities were emanating.
Violence has been mounting since 2004 when the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, called off a six-year unilateral ceasefire in its armed campaign for an independent Kurdish state in southeastern Turkey. Enditem