Turkey and Iraq are to sign an anti-terrorism agreement aimed at increasing cooperation between the two countries against Kurdish rebels which cross into Turkey from bases in northern Iraq, the CNN-Turk television station reported on Wednesday.
CNN-Turk reported that Iraqi Interior Minister Jawad al-Bolani confirmed that a deal had been reached and that the final details would be completed by Thursday when the agreement is due to be signed.
Al-Bolani was in Ankara for talks with his Turkish counterpart Beshir Atalay.
Turkey is seeking a deal that would allow its forces to cross into Iraq in pursuit of rebels from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK). Turkey is also seeking that the Iraqi security forces arrest and deport more than 100 PKK leaders known to be in Iraq.
Turkey has threatened to launch a full-scale military incursion into northern Iraq if US or Iraqi forces do not take steps to destroy PKK bases.
Washington and Baghdad fear that any such move by Turkey could destabilize the relative calm that exists in Kurdish-controlled northern Iraq.
More than 32,000 people have been killed since the PKK launched its fight for independence or autonomy for the mainly Kurdish- populated south-east. Turkey claims that a recent upsurge in attacks is thanks in part to the smuggling of US weapons from Iraq into Turkey.
Both the United States and the European Union consider the PKK to be a terrorist organization. dpa cw gma
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