The talks started Wednesday at the Turkish army headquarters in Ankara with the participation of senior generals and diplomats from the two countries.

Eleven Turkish soldiers were detained in northern Iraq and taken to Baghdad on Friday. They were released on Sunday night after two days of detention by US forces.

Their release came after Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan held a telephone call with US Vice President Dick Cheney earlier Sunday and another call between US Secretary of State Colin Powell and Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul.

Turkey demanded an explanation for the incident, which created a tense standoff in relations between the two NATO allies.

Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer said Wednesday that Turkey has the right to demand a satisfactory explanation from the US side, calling the incident "inexcusable."

Also on Wednesday, Turkish Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said talks between the two sides had proceeded in an atmosphere of mutual understanding.

"The reason for presence of Turkish soldiers in northern Iraq is quite clear. The number of our soldiers and their weapons are known. We experienced a really distressing event," Gul said.

"Our soldiers were not staging secret activities in the region. They were fulfilling their duties. Speculations cannot be valid because Turkey is a country expending efforts for settlement of stability in Iraq.

"The relations between Turkey and the United States cannot be considered ordinary relations between two countries. Therefore, a high-level commission has been formed to investigate the event," he added.

Referring to claims that the Turkish soldiers were detained because they were planning to assassinate the governor of the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, Gul said, "Such a probability is not valid for us since we do not have any benefits. Our real benefit is settlement of stability in Iraq as soon as possible."

Turkish soldiers have been based in northern Iraq since 1997 to prevent infiltration of members of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has been fighting a separatist war for autonomy in eastern and southeastern Turkey since 1984.

(Xinhua News Agency July 11, 2003)