Iraq calls for urgent Turkey talks

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Iraq on Tuesday urged Turkey to refrain from launching military action against Kurdish separatists based in Iraqi territory and called for urgent talks between the two nations to find a solution to the crisis.

Earlier, Tariq Al-Hashimi, one of Iraq's two vice presidents, arrived in Turkey to meet Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul in an effort to "defuse" tense relations between Ankara and Baghdad.

Meanwhile Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh issued a statement calling for "urgent dialogue" between Turkey and Iraq and a "diplomatic solution" to the tensions, sparked by recent attacks in Turkey by the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK..

The statement urged Turkey "not to resort to military solutions in dealing with terrorist threats that target its interests."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who was also due to hold emergency talks with his ministers Tuesday, said his government was ready for "urgent dialogue sessions" with senior Turkish officials.

Al-Hashimi, a leading Iraqi Sunni Arab, told the Arabic-language Radio Sawa on Monday that he hoped to use his good relations with Turkey and Iraqi Kurdistan to resolve the growing tensions but admitted he faced a "daunting task."

Turkey has about 60,000 troops in the border region, and lawmakers are due to vote on a motion tabled by Erdogan's government seeking approval for a military incursion. Government spokesman Cemil Cicek told CNN a vote could be held as early as Wednesday.

But Erdogan said Tuesday that an operation would not necessarily be carried out at once even if the motion was passed, The Associated Press reported.

"Turkey would act with common sense and determination when necessary and when the time is ripe," Erdogan said. Watch more on tension with Turkey »

"The only target is the PKK terrorist organization. No other group is our target," Cicek said. "Everyone who lives in Iraq are our brothers and our friends. We hope that peace comes to Iraq and to our areas without a need to use this option."

Iraq agreed to crack down on the PKK, which the United States and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, in an agreement signed in late September.

Turkey accuses the group of launching attacks from Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdish provinces that have claimed the lives of 30 Turkish troops and civilians in the country's southeast in recent weeks.

The Kurdish north has been a haven of peace compared to the rest of Iraq, which has been ravaged by four years of war. But Turkish gunners shelled farms across the border over the weekend, setting Kurdish fields and orchards ablaze.

No injuries were reported, but Iraqi officials said as many as 30,000 people could be forced to leave villages near the frontier.

"Shelterizing these people will be a challenge for the local authorities," Hameed Salih, a spokesman for the government in Iraq's Duhuk province, told CNN. "Therefore, we do hope this will not continue."

Salih denied the PKK was using Iraqi territory to stage attacks.

U.S. officials fear Turkish incursions would undermine the stability of the American-backed government in Baghdad and jeopardize the supply lines that support U.S. troops in Iraq.

"We all have an interest in a stable Iraq and a desire to see the PKK brought to justice, but we urge the Turks to continue their discussions with us and the Iraqis and to show restraint from any potentially destabilizing actions," U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said Monday.

U.S. envoys have urged Iraq to crack down on the rebels and held weekend talks in Ankara to persuade its NATO ally to stay its hand.

But the efforts have been complicated by a push in the U.S. House of Representatives to declare the Ottoman-era killings of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians a "genocide."

Erdogan's government has condemned the resolution and threatened to curtail military cooperation with Washington if it passes. E-mail to a friend

CNN's senior international correspondent Nic Robertson and CNN's Saad Abedine contributed to this report.

Copyright 2007 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report.

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