"We are making it very clear to Turkey that we don't think it is in their interests to send troops into Iraq," Bush said at a White House press conference.

"There's a better way to deal with the issue than having the Turks send massive troops into the country -- massive additional troops into the country," the president said.

"We are actively involved with the Turks and the Iraqis, through a tripartite arrangement, and we'll continue ... dialoguing with the Turks," Bush said.

Bush also noted that Iraqi government had told Turkey it was determined to act against the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

But even as the president spoke in the White House, Turkey's parliament voted to allow the government to send troops into northern Iraq to crack down on the Kurdish rebels there, the parliament speaker said.

The motion said the timing and the scope of an operation as well the number of soldiers to be sent will be determined by the government and said the operation would solely target the PKK, which Ankara accuses of using the region as a jumping board for attacks across the border on Turkey.

In an attempt to defuse US tensions with Turkey on another key issue, Bush urged the Democratic-led Congress to drop a resolution calling the World War I massacre of Armenians in Turkey "genocide."

"One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire," Bush said, branding the measure "counterproductive."

"Congress has more important work to do than antagonizing a democratic ally in the Muslim world, especially one that's providing vital support for our military every day," in places like Iraq, he said.

Hours before attending a ceremony in Congress honoring Tibet's exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, Bush shrugged off furious protests from Beijing, and said Chinese leaders should also meet him.

"It's in their interest to meet with the Dalai Lama and I will say so at the ceremony today in Congress," Bush said.

"If they were to sit down with the Dalai Lama, they would find him to be a man of peace and reconciliation," said the president, who met the Dalai Lama privately on Tuesday.

Earlier, China unleashed a fresh verbal tirade at the United States over the Dalai Lama's warm reception in Washington, but analysts said threats of seriously damaged ties were overstated.

Turning to another foreign policy hotspot, Bush warned North Korea that "there will be consequences" if it failed to live up to an agreement to dismantle its nuclear weapons programs.

"If they renege on their promises -- and they have declared that they will show us weapons and get rid of the weapons programs as well stop proliferation -- if they don't fulfill that which they've said, we are now in a position to make sure that they understand that there will be consequences," he said.

Bush also called on Democratic leaders in Congress to pass a sheaf of spending bills, and to move stalled legislation on mortgage relief, and act on a number of trade bills with Peru, Colombia, Panama and South Korea.