Maliki will visit at the invitation of Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, foreign ministry spokesman Levent Bilman told reporters.

"All aspects of bilateral ties, primarily security issues, will be discussed," he said.

Turkey has threatened military action in neighbouring northern Iraq to hit camps of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist organisation by Ankara and much of the international community, if Iraq and the United States fail to curb the rebels.

Ankara says the group, which stepped up its attacks in Turkey this year, enjoys free movement in northern Iraq, where it obtains weapons and explosives.

Last month, Turkey accused the forces of Massud Barzani, who heads northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, of providing the PKK with weapons, possibly including ammunition received from the United States.

Washington has warned Ankara against a cross-border operation, wary that such a move may destabilise a relatively peaceful part of Iraq and fuel tensions between Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds, a staunch US ally.

The PKK took up arms for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey in 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.