"We are delighted by this nomination made by the US administration," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The special envoy is retired General Joseph W. Ralston, a former supreme commander of NATO who has made many visits to alliance member Turkey.

The ministry said the appointment was an "opportunity" to take "concrete steps" in the battle agaisnt Kurdish separatists of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) classified as a terrorist organisation by Turkey, the European Union and the United States.

Turkish media said Ralston would visit Ankara for talks next week.

Turkey has repeatedly complained that Baghdad and Washington are too passive in the face of the PKK, accused of using northern Iraq with its largely Kurdish population as a base for a growing number of attacks in the southeastern Anatolia region.

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.

Turkey has threatened to cross the border to attack PKK camps in Iraq. Washington has sought to dissuade Ankara, arguing in favour of joint action including Baghdad.

Turkish security forces said Wednesday they had seized 74 kilogrammes (163 pounds) of a plastic explosive in southeastern Turkey of the type often used by Kurdish rebels.

The explosives, along with 15 rocket-launchers, had come across the border from northern Iraq, according to the office of the governor of Sirnak. No date for the operation was given.

More than 37,000 lives have been lost in the Kurdish insurrection which began in 1984 with Kurdish demands for independence for the southeastern and heavily Kurdish Anatolia region.