Turkey and the United States are bargaining on Turkish demands to deploy military units in northern Iraq to control refugees and monitor the activity of Kurdish groups. Diplomats on Tuesday said Washington may also seek some form of cooperation to support the \"northern front\" it is trying to assemble across the border, despite Turkey\'s refusal to let U.S. troops launch a second land invasion of Iraq from Turkish soil. Turkey for its part wants to extend cooperation to secure urgently needed financial help, turned down by the United States after parliament voted against the U.S. troop deployment. President George W. Bush, fearing clashes between Turks and armed Iraqi Kurdish groups working with U.S. forces in their military campaign, told Turkey firmly at the weekend he did not want it to dispatch troops. But Ankara insists it alone can defend its interests in the Kurdish-controlled area. European states have also cautioned Turkey against deploying additional troops in the area, where Ankara fears establishment of a Kurdish state that could galvanise rebels on Turkish soil. U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad met foreign ministry officials as war in neighboring Iraq entered a sixth day. One official dismissed speculation the United States, granted use of Turkish air space following collapse of talks on the land invasion, had asked for use of Turkish military bases. Turkey says it needs to deploy troops in a buffer zone around 20 km (12 miles) wide at the border to control any refugee camps. But U.S. officials argue that, if refugees do eventually come, international organisations rather than the Turkish military are the ones to handle them. Turkey would also reserve the right to go beyond that cordon if it felt there were moves to establish a Kurdish state. Ankara has kept troops in northern Iraq since it broke from Baghdad after the 1991 Gulf war. Current estimates put the strength anywhere between 3,000 and 17,000. Kurdish groups are vehemently opposed to any further Turkish incursion and have vowed to resist, opening for the United States the danger that its attempts to set up a smaller northern front in the area, using airlifts from the south and west, could be undermined by Kurdish-Turkish tensions. (Reuters)