"I don't think there is any danger of a Turkish invasion of (Iraqi) Kurdistan," Talabani, himself a Kurd, told Egyptian government newspaper Al-Ahram.

Turkey has massed some 100,000 troops on the border since its parliament last month approved a resolution allowing the government to order military strikes on Kurdish rebel bases in Iraq.

But Talabani said a meeting last week between Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan and US President George W. Bush had succeeded in "reducing the tension."

Pressure on the Turkish government to launch a major cross-border operation has increased since a deadly October ambush by Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) fighters near the Iraqi border.

Talabani said he welcomed the approach to the PKK crisis by neighbouring Iran, which has called for a political solution.

But he added: "It is not true that Iran has any influence in Iraq. In the past Iran supported the Mahdi Army and certain other (Shiite) militias but now Iran is refraining from doing that, which has been helpful."

More than 37,000 people have been killed since 1984 when the PKK, now regarded as a terrorist group by much of the international community, started a violent campaign for self-rule in southeast Turkey.