Reuters
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan arrived in Baghdad on Tuesday for talks with Iraqi.
leaders in an effort to pressure the Iraqi government to take action against Turkey's Kurdish PKK rebels fighting Turkish troops, as Washington urged Ankara to hold back from unilateral military action.
He is expected to meet Iraq's President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari.
Babacan was received in Baghdad by Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zibari.
The talks came as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised the possibility of joint action with the United States against rear-bases in northern Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) which has stepped up its insurgency in southeasten Turkey in recent weeks.
Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan
On Monday, Babacan told reporters in Kuwait that Ankara would "continue to exert these diplomatic and political efforts with good intention to resolve this crisis caused by a terrorist organisation.
"But in the end, if we don't reach a result, there are other means that we may be forced to use."
Turkish members of parliament have authorised the government to take military action in northern Iraq to flush out the rebels if it deems it necessary.
Turkish anger over the presence of PKK rebels in Kurdistan 'northern Iraq' intensified after a weekend attack by the rebels on a military patrol that left 12 soldiers dead.
But the government has so far accepted US calls to hold back from unilateral action.
The Turkish prime minister, who was in London for talks with his British counterpart Gordon Brown on Tuesday, said he had discussed with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice the possibility of joint action against the rebels.
"We may conduct a joint operation with the United States against the PKK in northern Iraq," Erodgan told the mass-selling Turkish daily Hurriyet on his flight into London.
The Chicago Tribune reported that the US military was considering air strikes on the rebels.
Citing an official familiar with Bush's conversation with Gul, the newspaper said cruise missile launches against PKK targets have been discussed, but air strikes using manned aircraft were an easier option.
"In the past, there has been reluctance to engage in direct US military action against the PKK," the official told the Tribune.
Turkey's top diplomat has been shuttling around the Mideast to explain Ankara's position on the Kurdish rebels, who carried out a cross-border attack Sunday that left 12 Turkish troops dead and eight missing. Thirty-four rebels were also killed, the Turkish military said.
The attack followed a vote by the Turkish parliament last week that gave permission for the government to send troops over the border to wipe out bases belonging to the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party in Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq'.
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