Rice faces tough battle on Turkey trip

By Sue Pleming

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Turkey will push U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice this week to follow through on promises to help eradicate Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq, but experts say the top U.S. diplomat's hands are tied.

Rice arrives in Ankara on Friday for talks with Turkey's leaders, before going to Istanbul for a meeting of Iraq's neighbours and major powers that is also expected to be dominated by tensions between Iraq and Turkey.

"I can't imagine what she is going to be able to do in terms of pulling a rabbit out of the hat that would enable her to leave claiming that some progress had been made," said Mark Parris, a former U.S. ambassador to Turkey.

Turkey has threatened a military incursion into northern Iraq, from where Kurdish rebels have launched attacks, but has so far heeded Washington's call for restraint.

Washington fears an incursion by Turkey -- a NATO ally and key conduit for supplies to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan -- would further destabilize an already volatile region.

Rice has promised unspecified "concrete action" and is prodding Iraq's government, particularly the Kurdish regional authorities in northern Iraq, to curb the Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, by closing its bases and arresting leaders.

No details have been given on proposed U.S. actions, but the United States is providing intelligence on the rebels and helping Ankara gain "actionable" intelligence needed before any military strike, said Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell.

While helping on intelligence, U.S. defence officials have made clear there is no appetite for U.S. military action against the PKK. Major-Gen. Benjamin Mixon, in charge of U.S. forces in northern Iraq, said when asked last week what he planned to do to curb PKK activities: "Absolutely nothing."