NEWMARKET-ON-FERGUS, Ireland (Reuters) - President Bush declared an end on Saturday to Western rifts over Iraq but won little in his search for European military help and took heat over prisoner abuse.

"The bitter differences of the war are over," Bush told a news conference, which was delayed by anti-American protests staged around the lightning U.S.-EU summit in Ireland.

Fenced off from his detractors by 2,000 soldiers and 4,000 police -- a third of the Irish security forces -- Bush holed up in a western Irish castle with European Union leaders.

He flew later to the Turkish capital Ankara, where he was due to have talks with Turkey's president and prime minister on Sunday before joining other world leaders at a NATO summit in Istanbul.

NATO leaders will rubber-stamp a deal to train Iraqi security forces, a concrete sign of new transatlantic unity.

But it fell far short of Washington's original goal of getting NATO troops into Iraq, and diplomats said it may be just the lowest common denominator the two sides can live with.

With continued violence in Iraq denting his re-election chances in November, Bush challenged European partners in the NATO military alliance to help him end the U.S.-led occupation.

"NATO has the capability and I believe the responsibility to help the Iraqi people defeat the terrorist threat that's facing their country," Bush said.

"The faster the Iraqis take over their own security needs, the faster the mission will end."

In their private talks and a joint U.S.-EU statement, European leaders made clear their disquiet over both the detention of terror suspects in Guantanamo Bay in Cuba and the U.S. military abuse of prisoners at Iraq's Abu Ghraib jail.

The statement pointedly stressed "the need for full respect of the Geneva Conventions."

Bush responded that the Abu Ghraib scandal made him "sick."

"MACBUSH" MOCKED

Protesters were kept well away from 16th-century Dromoland Castle where Bush met Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, whose country holds the EU rotating presidency, plus other top officials of the newly-expanded 25-nation bloc.

"This summit has re-affirmed the strength, the depth and the significance of our relationship in a spirit of partnership," said Ahern, echoing the upbeat U.S. line.

Yet as the leaders talked, Iraq's plight was highlighted by the latest car bomb that killed a man and wounded 40 people in the Kurdish city of Arbil as insurgents kept up a bloody drive to derail the transition to an interim government in four days.

As on Bush's previous trips to Europe, few on Ireland's street were ready to forgive and forget the U.S.-led invasion.

Around 10,000 protesters took to Dublin's streets on Friday and while demonstrations close to the summit venue were smaller, they made up for low numbers with high theater.

One group staged a version of Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth at a police roadblock half a mile from the castle, with "MacBush" cast as the ruthless Scottish king.

"The Irish government has no guts. It should stand up to Bush and tell him we don't want his war, we don't want his planes at our airport," said demonstrator Robert Sheehy.

The whistling and jeering was a sharp contrast to the jubilant welcomes usually afforded American presidents. Past U.S. leaders, from John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, have been feted for their Irish roots and the strong bilateral ties. Former President Bill Clinton was embraced as a conquering hero.

Bush shrugged off his low standing in Europe, saying the polls he cared most about "are those that are going to take place in early November" to elect the next U.S. president.