Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 20:19 AFP — US President George W. Bush meets November 5 with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, amid mounting US efforts to forestall a Turkish incursion into Iraq to crush Kurdish separatist rebels.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 18:01 AFP — The Turkish army pounded Kurdish rebels near the Iraqi border Tuesday as Ankara warned that ties with Washington would suffer as long as the separatists in northern Iraq are not reined in.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 17:45 AFP — UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to travel to Turkey this weekend to attend a ministerial meeting of countries neighboring Iraq, a UN spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 17:03 AFP — UN chief Ban Ki-moon is to travel to Turkey this weekend to attend a ministerial meeting of countries neighboring Iraq, a UN spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 12:15 AFP — Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki is to visit Baghdad on Wednesday, amid growing tensions over Turkish warnings of an incursion against Kurdish militants in north Iraq, media reported on Tuesday.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 12:06 AFP — Iraqi Kurds on Tuesday blamed the Turkish military for the failure of talks between Baghdad and Ankara over Kurdish rebels and urged fresh dialogue to end their uprising.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 11:37 AFP — Turkey called on the United States Tuesday to take "urgent" measures against Kurdish rebels based in Iraq and said the future of bilateral ties depended on Washington's stance on the issue.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 10:40 AFP — Iraq's Kurdish leader dismissed the idea of taking "orders" from Ankara to crack down on Turkish Kurd rebel bases in his region as Turkey continued Tuesday to pound positions near their border. Massud Barzani, president of the Kurdish regional government that holds sway in northern Iraq, regretted Ankara's refusal to hold direct talks on the crisis over the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels.

Tuesday, 30 October, 2007 , 08:47 AFP — Iraq's Kurdish leader Massud Barzani said in an interview published Tuesday that he would not take orders from Turkey to crack down on Turkish Kurd rebels based in his autonomous region.

Monday, 29 October, 2007 , 18:43 AFP — Turkey paraded its military muscle Monday, amid stern warnings from Baghdad that any large-scale Turkish incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq would have "disastrous" results.