"We are in agreement on what should be done," Gul told CNN Turk television, referring to insistent calls by the Turkish army for a cross-border operation against the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

"All plans have been prepared... Everything -- from the best-case scenario to the worst -- is ready on the table," he said.

In remarks published in the daily Radikal, Gul warned that Turkey would activate its plans if the Iraqi authorities or the United States failed to act to curb the PKK, listed as a terrorist organisation by both Ankara and Washington.

"Unfortunately, the level of cooperation by the United States is below our expectations," he said. "If either the Iraqi government or the United States cannot (stop the PKK), we will make our own decision and implement it."

The minister explained that an eventual decision for a cross-border operation should have "the right timing (to) produce results."

Army chief Yasar Buyukanit has been calling since April for a strike against PKK rebels based in Kurdish-run, autonomous northern Iraq where, Ankara says, the PKK enjoys free movement and obtains weapons and explosives for attacks in Turkey.

Turkey also accuses local Kurdish leaders of tolerating and even supporting the PKK, which notably stepped up its attacks on Turkish territory this year.

Facing general elections on July 22, the government is under pressure to toughen measures against the insurgency.

Public anger boiled over in May when a suspected PKK militant blew himself up in a busy shopping street in Ankara, killing eight people.

The government has not ruled out an incursion, but said it would focus on fighting the rebels inside Turkey and seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the issue.

Washington opposes Turkish military action in northern Iraq, fearing this could destabilise the relatively peaceful region of the conflict-torn country and further strain already tense ties between Ankara and the Iraqi Kurds, staunch allies of the United States.

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