ANKARA [MENL] -- Syria and Turkey have launched high-level efforts to
improve security cooperation amid expectation of an imminent U.S.-led war
against neighboring Iraq.Turkish government sources said a high-level Syrian military delegation
discussed ways to increase border security. They said the talks focused on
preventing a massive influx of refugees from northern Iraq into either Syria
or Turkey.The Syrian delegation was led by Gen. Ghazi Kanaan, head of the
political security agency in the Syrian military. Kanaan met with Gen. Sener
Eruygur, commander of the Turkish Gendarmerie Forces on Tuesday.The sources said Turkey has been concerned that Kurdish insurgents,
particularly from the former Kurdish Workers Party, would flee northern Iraq
into Syria. They said Ankara is determined not to allow Syria to again
harbor PKK insurgents, a policy Damascus pursued until 1998, when Turkey
threatened war.
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