Talabani, a Kurd, met with leaders of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) and "said a ceasefire declaration may be possible in a short time," Talabani's spokesman, Kamran Qaradaghi, told the NTV news channel.

The spokesman was commenting on remarks by Talabani in an interview with the US magazine Newsweek.

"We convinced the PKK to stop fighting, and within days it will officially announce a ceasefire," he said, according to Newsweek's web site.

"This will help Iraq open a new chapter in relations with Turkey," Talabani added. "We are urging the Turkish Kurds to be moderate, to wage their struggle through democratic means."

PKK leaders, including Ocalan, have also spoken about the possibility of a ceasefire in recent weeks.

Turkey has long urged Iraq and the United States to crack down on the PKK in northern Iraq, a Kurdish-run region where thousands militants found save haven after the group declared a unilateral ceasefire in 1999 following the capture of their leader Abdullah Ocalan.

The truce was called off in June 2004 and the PKK, blacklisted as a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has notably stepped up attacks on Turkish territory this year.

Ankara has threatened a cross-border operation into northern Iraq to pursue the PKK if Baghdad and Washington fail to curb the rebels.

The Turkish government charges that northern Iraq has become a training ground for the PKK and a springboard for its attacks across the border.

It says that PKK rebels enjoy unrestricted movement in the region and are easily able to obtain weapons and explosives there.

Last week, Iraq announced that it would close down all PKK offices in the country.

Ankara is also urging Baghdad to declare the PKK a terrorist organization and arrest its leaders.

The Kurdish conflict in Turkey has claimed more than 37,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's predominantly Kurdish southeast.