"Over the years we have had arrangements with Turkey for the use of the (Incirlik) base. And what we would like to see is those arrangements to continue," US under secretary of state for political affairs, Marc Grossman, told reporters after talks with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

US and British fighter jets used the Incirlik base in the southern province of Adana to patrol a no-fly zone over northern Iraq from the time of the Gulf War in 1991 until the US-led invasion of Iraq last March.

The base, which is close to the Syrian and Iraqi borders, is still used for logistical purposes.

The US official underlined that "there may be other opportunities as well, such as training, joint operations" in Turkish-US military cooperation, but did not elaborate.

Grossman's visit to Turkey, a NATO member and a key Muslim ally of the United States, was part of a tour of several European capitals to consult over Washington's plans to realign its troops in Europe.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said during a visit to NATO last week that Washington is set to restructure its forces in Europe to improve its ability to tackle global terrorism.

"The change in our force posture will be a positive thing for the alliance and will strengthen the alliance," Grossman said.

"Any of the decision that we comtemplate will be consistent with our treaty obligations. The reaction of the Turkish side I felt was positiive," he added.

Consultations between Washington and Ankara were to continue.

Grossman extended condolences to Turkey over the four suicide bombings in Istanbul on November 15 and 20, but rejected suggestions that the US occupation of neighboring Iraq had triggered an increase in terrorism in the region.

"There was terrorism before Iraq and there will be terrorism after what we have done in Iraq, to connect these things is incorrect. The job now is to defeat terrorism," he said.

Later in the day, Grossman was to travel on to Istanbul to visit the sites of the bombings, which have been blamed on Turkish extremists linked to the al-Qaeda network.

The attacks -- the first set of which targeted two synagogues and the second the British consulate and the HSBC bank -- claimed 61 lives.

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