Turkey's parliament yesterday overwhelmingly approved a government request to allow troops to cross into northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels based there.

But the government appears willing to give more time to diplomatic pressure on the US-backed Iraqi administration.

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has played down expectations of an imminent offensive, but the parliamentary approval provides the legal basis for NATO's second biggest army to cross the mountainous border as and when it sees fit.

Parliament voted 507-19 in favor of empowering the government to order the military to cross into Iraq over a one-year period, Parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan said.

Yesterday's motion had the backing from all of Turkey's parliamentary parties except a small Kurdish party.

Hours before the vote, Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki called his Turkish counterpart to say that his government was determined to halt the PKK "terrorist activities" on Iraqi territory, and he emphasized the need for the two nations to continue to talk, his office said in a statement.

In Paris, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, an ethnic Kurd, called on PKK rebels to stop fighting in Turkey, while also urging the Turkish government not to launch an incursion.

"We consider activities of PKK against the interests of the Kurdish people first, and then against the interests of Turkey," Talabani told reporters during an official visit to the French capital.

Turkey has complained about what it considers a lack of US support in the fight against the PKK.

US President George W. Bush said the United States was making clear to Turkey it should not send massive number of troops into Iraq. "We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interest to send troops into Iraq," Bush said.

Agencies

(China Daily 10/18/2007 page12)