In a visit billed by Turkish officials as "a final chance" for diplomacy, an Iraqi team led by General Abdel Qader Jassim, Iraq's defence minister, and including members of northern Iraq's Kurdish administration was due in Ankara later on Thursday. The Baghdad government has promised to shut down PKK camps but Ankara is aware that the central Iraqi government has little influence in the autonomous Kurdish north.Turkish newspapers on Thursday accused Iraqi and Iraqi Kurdish leaders of dishonesty and unreliability for promising much and delivering virtually nothing. They were especially angry with Jalal Talabani, Iraq's president, a Kurd, whom Turkish officials quoted on Wednesday as saying Baghdad might hand over PKK rebels to Turkey. Talabani's office later denied he said this.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, is due to visit Turkey on November 2 to November 3 to try to reduce tensions between Turkey and Iraq. Erdogan is also expected to meet George Bush, the US president, in Washington on November 5.
The Turkish prime minister said: "As a strategic ally of Turkey, the United States has to act together with Turkey. We acted together with them in Afghanistan. "We must take and we will take steps against terrorism both on a national and an international level."