"Operations and attacks will not finish off the guerillas... Do not darken the new century by clashing with Kurds," Murat Karayilan told the Firat news agency, considered a PKK mouthpiece.

"We are telling you what needs to be done: Stop the attacks and let us discuss projects to resolve the problem," he said.

The Turkish government said Tuesday that it retained the option of military action to end the safe haven the PKK enjoys in northern Iraq. The statement came a day after US President George W. Bush pledged increased military and intelligence cooperation against the PKK.

With an estimated 100,000 troops massed on the border, Turkey has been threatening cross-border military strikes to flush out the rebels if the United States and Iraq fail to take urgent action against them.

Washington opposes unilateral Turkish action in northern Iraq, fearing an eventual confrontation between two key allies -- NATO-member Turkey and the Iraqi Kurds who rule the region -- that could destabilise a relatively peaceful area of the war-torn country.

Karayilan argued that a Turkish incursion will not resolve the conflict.

"You (Turkey) insist that we leave Iraq. Would that really be a solution?" he asked. "Our forces are everywhere... We are also present on Turkish soil."

The PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by much of the international community, has been fighting for self-rule in Turkey's mainly Kurdish southeast since 1984 in a conflict that has claimed more than 37,000 lives.

Turkey refuses to negotiate with a "terrorist organisation."