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Turkish FM to visit Iran Saturday

ANKARA, Oct 26, 2007 (AFP) - In the midst of a crisis with Baghdad over Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq, Turkey's foreign minister will travel Saturday to Iran, which has urged Ankara to avoid military action against its western neighbour.

A foreign ministry statement here said Ali Babacan would meet President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki, as well as Islamic Consultative Assembly President Haddad Adil during his two-day stay in Tehran.

Iran has conducted air raids in the recent past against positions in Iraq of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which it accuses of fomenting discord among its own Kurdish population of about five million.

But last Sunday, Tehran refused to explicitly back a Turkish incursion against rebel bases in northern Iraq, saying, "diplomatic means should be used and dialogue should continue."

"Any solution that creates tension will only worsen the situation in northern Iraq, although we believe there is a need to confront the terrorist grouplets," foreign ministry spokesman Mohammad Ali Hosseini then said.

Babacan's visit is part of a tour of regional countries he has been making ahead of an international conference on Iraq in Istanbul on November 2-3.