Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said he understood Ankara's "legitimate" want for stronger action against mounting violence by the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the EU and the United States.

"But I want to emphasize that basic rights and freedoms should in no way be harmed when steps are taken in the struggle against terrorism," Anatolia quoted Rehn as saying.

Rehn was in Istanbul for a conference on Turkey's bid to join the EU and held talks with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier in the day.

Erdogan's government is currently reviewing requests by the security forces for several legal amendments to strengthen their hand against the PKK.

The army and the police have often complained that certain reforms limiting their powers, passed in recent years as part of Turkey's efforts to align with EU norms, have hampered efforts against crime.

Rehn said Turkey should consider measures to improve social and economic life in the predominately Kurdish southeast, Turkey's poorest region.

"I would like to emphasise the support the (European) Commission will give in this area since the EU will focus on eradicating regional disparities (in Turkey) in the long-term," Anatolia quoted him as saying.

He also urged Ankara to revitalise its reform drive to catch up with EU norms, stressing a need for a constitutional overhaul.

Turkey began membership talks in 2005 after a series of far-reaching democracy reforms.

It has so far opened talks only in eight of the 35 chapters that candidates must complete amid a trade row over Cyprus and strong opposition in some EU members, notably France, to its accession.

Turkey's own reform programme, on the other hand, has been stagnating since last year amid political tensions between the ruling Islamist-rooted party and army-backed secularist forces.