-OCTOBER-

- October 9, 2007: Ankara threatens a military operation against bases of the separatist Kurdish group PKK after 15 of its soldiers are killed in rebel attacks as PKK fighters move into Turkey from northern Iraq.

- Oct 13-14: Turkish troops begin firing shells across the border into northern Iraq.

- Oct 17: The Turkish parliament voted to allow military strikes against Kurdish separatists in northern Iraq, despite stiff US opposition and appeals from Baghdad for time to purge the rebels.

- Oct 21: Twelve Turkish soldiers are killed and eight captured on the Iraq border in a PKK ambush. Thirty-four rebels are killed. Iraqi President Jalal Talabani rejects the Turkish demand to deliver the PKK chief based in Iraq.

- Oct 22: The PKK say they are ready to agree to a cease-fire if Ankara renounces military action and commits to recognising their rights. Ankara rejects the offer of negotiating with a "terrorist organisation."

- Oct 24: The Kurdistan presidency in Iraq calls on the PKK to put an end to armed conflict.

- Oct 28-31: The Turkish military shells near the Iraq border. Fifteen rebels and three Turkish soldiers die in clashes.

-NOVEMBER-

- November 1: PKK calls for a "peace plan" but says it is ready to fight.

- Nov 2: In Ankara, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice promises that Washington will redouble its efforts to help Turkey overcome the PKK problem, but urges the Turkish army not to enter Iraq. Ankara says it is time to move from words to action against the PKK.

- Nov 3: Iraqi Kurdish authorities close the offices of the al-Hal party linked to PKK. Baghdad, gets support at an international conference in Istanbul on the fight against terrorism, and starts to act against the rebels.

- Nov 4: The PKK releases eight Turkish soldiers.

- Nov 5: US President George W. Bush and Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announce strengthened military cooperation because of Iraqi Kurdish rebel attacks against Turkey.

- Nov 6: In Washington, Erdogan says the military option is always present while the PKK demand that the Turks negotiate with them.

- Nov 11: The brother of Abdullah Ocalan, the imprisoned PKK leader, says that thousands of combattants have found refuge in Iran.

- Nov 13: Four Turkish soldiers are killed in combat near the Iraqi border.

- Nov 21: The Iraqi government and Kurdish regional authorities announce measures to restrain PKK movements, which are welcomed by Ankara.

- Nov 30: Erdogan says that on November 28 the government authorised the army to conduct military action in northern Iraq.

-DECEMBER-

December 1: Turkish army says it has inflicted "heavy losses" on PKK rebels in Iraq.