"What we try to do in Europe aims at ensuring that the financial sources of the PKK will be cut and main leaders of the PKK are detained," Wilson was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency during a Turkish-American business meeting in İstanbul. He said the US had been trying to convince the European governments that they should take the PKK issue "more seriously" since the autumn of 2005.

Last Monday, the French police detained 13 people suspected of helping finance the PKK. The number of detentions later went up to 16 and the operation also spread to Belgium. Investigators in both countries are now trying to find out whether the detained, which reportedly include top PKK leaders, have links with the group.

Wilson said the US officials had a series of meetings with European intelligence and foreign service authorities: "We are glad that German, French and Belgian authorities took steps as a result of these meetings."

But when asked whether the US diplomacy played a role in the European operations, Wilson said he would not establish a direct connection.

Turkey is pressing the US to take measures to eliminate the presence of the PKK in northern Iraq and demands a tougher European stance against the group, considered as a terrorist organization by Washington and the EU.

French crackdown widens to include leftist group
In France, the police expanded a security operation to include a leftist organization. Some eight people suspected to have links with TİKKO, the armed wing of the outlawed Turkish Communist Party/Marxist Leninist (TKP/ML), were detained in an operation, sources said. France has contacted Turkish authorities to provide information on the operation.