Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Friday that he was ready to face up to the cost of a cross-border incursion into Iraq to fight against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), the semi-official Anatolia News Agency reported.

 

"If we decide on a cross-border operation, we do not have patience to lose more time, whatever the cost is, it will be met," Erdogan was quoted as saying.

 

Turkey would not be deterred if it decides to launch a cross-border incursion into northern Iraq to crush the separatist rebels based there, he said, referring to mounting international pressure on Ankara.

 

Erdogan underlined that "there could be pros and cons of such a decision, but what is important is our country's interests."

 

"Turkey lost 30 people in the acts of terror in the last two weeks. It is impossible for us to bear it forever ... we are making necessary preparations to be ready in case we decide on a cross-border operation," he added.

 

Meanwhile, the prime minister said Turkey has long been seeking the cooperation of Iraq and the United States in its fight against the PKK, but there has been no crackdown on the rebels.

 

Mentioning a recent anti-terrorism deal signed with Iraq, Erdogan said it was not valid since it had not been approved by Iraq's parliament yet.

 

Turkey's Supreme Anti-Terror Board convened on Tuesday, issuing a fresh warning of a possible cross-border incursion into northern Iraq to chase separatist rebels and the government sent a request for approval to parliament which is expected to make decision as early as next week, after a holiday ending the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

 

Officials and analysts had warned that the possibility for a cross-border operation into Iraq would increase if the US Congress passes a resolution backing Armenian allegations of genocide at the hands of the late Ottoman Empire.

 

On Wednesday, US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs approved a resolution labeling the killings of Armenians between 1915 and 1917 a genocide.

 

The resolution drew immediately Turkish government's condemnation, though it would have no binding effect on the US foreign policy.

 

Armenians say more than 1.5 million Armenians were killed in a systematic genocide in the hands of the Ottomans during World War I, before modern Turkey was born in 1923.

 

But Turkey insists the Armenians were victims of widespread chaos and governmental breakdown as the 600-year-old empire collapsed in the years before 1923.

 

Ankara called back Turkey's ambassador in Washington Nabi Sensoy on Thursday.

 

The PKK has increased its attacks on government troops in southeastern Turkey, which led to rising Turkish demands for an incursion into northern Iraq to crush the rebels based there.

 

The group, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 13, 2007)