The apparent optimism in Ankara came after it threatened last month to consider cross-border military operations into neighboring northern Iraq to crack down on bases of the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) if Iraq and the United States failed to do so.

"Iraq has recently given us information about the measures it foresees to stop the activities of the PKK terrorist organization in Iraq," foreign ministry spokesman Namik Tan told a press conference.

"At the end of the day, the PKK will definitely be defeated," he said. "We will see this very clearly, very soon."

Turkey says the PKK, listed as a terrorist group by both Ankara and Washington, uses northern Iraq as a springboard for attacks on Turkish territory and enjoys unrestricted movement in the Kurdish-run region where it easily obtains weapons and explosives.

Ankara, Tan said, wants to increase cooperation with both Washington and Baghdad against the PKK, which has notably stepped up violence in Turkey over the past year.

"The stronger our cooperation grows, the sooner concrete results will be seen," he said. "We have a strong expectation that the concrete results of this cooperation will begin to emerge soon."

The spokesman declined to say what measures Baghdad was considering against the rebels.

The United States has been reluctant to pursue the PKK in northern Iraq, arguing that allied forces are overwhelmed by violence in other parts of the country and that military action in the north could destabilize the relatively calm region.

It has warned Turkey against unilateral cross-border action, urging its NATO ally to seek coordinated efforts against the PKK with Washington and Baghdad.

Thousands of PKK militants have moved to northern Iraq since 1999, when the group declared a unilateral ceasefire after the capture of its leader Abdullah Ocalan, now serving a life sentence for treason. The truce was called off in June 2004.

At least 94 PKK rebels and 58 members of the security forces have been killed this year, according to an AFP count.

Kurdish militants have also claimed responsibility for 11 bomb attacks in urban centres across Turkey this year, in which nine people were killed and nearly 140 injured.