Turkey "will continue to take any measures the struggle against terrorism requires, whatever the circumstances may be," the National Security Council (MGK) said in a statement carried by Anatolia news agency after a regular meeting.

The Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), listed as a terrorist group by Ankara and much of the international community, has stepped up attacks this year in its 23-year armed campaign for Kurdish self-rule in southeast Turkey.

The army has called for an incursion into adjoining northern Iraq, where PKK militants take refuge, and also, according to Ankara, obtain large amounts of explosives for attacks across the border in Turkey.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said Ankara would focus on fighting the rebels inside Turkey and seek dialogue with Baghdad to resolve the issue.

He sent a letter to his Iraqi counterpart Nuri al-Maliki last week, proposing talks by the end of June.

The MGK, an advisory body which brings together the president, the prime minister, senior ministers and military commanders, said it also reviewed the Cyprus conflict.

It charged that the internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government "continues to be an element of instability in the region" and said Turkey would "maintain efforts to protect its rights and interests in the Eastern Mediterranean."

The council discussed steps for easing the international isolation of the Turkish Cypriot statelet in the north of the island, which only Ankara recognises, adding that Turkey was committed to reunifying Cyprus under UN sponsorship.

The Cyprus conflict remains a major stumbling block for Turkey's struggling bid to join the European Union.

Peace talks between the two Cypriot communities have stalled since April 2004 when the Greek Cypriots voted down a UN-drafted reunification plan even though the Turkish Cypriots gave it overwhelming support.

Cyprus has been divided since 1974 when Turkey seized the north following an Athens-engineered coup in Nicosia aimed at uniting the island with Greece.