Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan signalled that he is ready to give diplomacy a new chance, underlining that Wednesday's vote allowing raids into northern Iraq does not mean immediate action.

"The parliamentary authorisation could well be the best leverage Turkey has had in years," the liberal Radikal daily said. "What is important now is for Turkey to play its cards at the right time and in the right sequence."

Parliament's green-light for an incursion appeared to pay off Thursday as the Kurdish government in northern Iraq urged direct talks to resolve the row over the presence of Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) rebels on its territory.

"An incursion would be detrimental to all Iraq, to Turkey and the Middle East," the autonomous administration said in a statement.

Turkey accuses Iraqi Kurds of tolerating Kurdish rebels who enjoy free movement and obtain weapons in northern Iraq for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki telephoned Erdogan on Wednesday to assure him that Baghdad is determined to purge PKK rebels from its territory, while US President George W. Bush urged Ankara to avoid military action.

Ankara says a cross-border operation has become a necessity because Washington and Baghdad have failed to crack down on the PKK, which has stepped up violence in its 23-year campaign for self-rule in Turkey's southeast.

"The Iraqis and the Americans both finally understand that they must act fast and that they can no longer stall Turkey with words," the popular Milliyet daily said.

"This is an important opportunity to push for diplomacy, because it is common knowledge that a military operation could have grave political, social and economic consequences for Turkey both at home and abroad," it added.

Turkey conducted many cross-border raids into northern Iraq in the 1990s, dealing heavy blows to the PKK. But these were widely condemned and cost the cancellation of international aid and arms sales.

The raids have frayed Turkey's troubled ties with its own restive Kurdish community over the years.

A US Defense Department spokesman on Wednesday said Ankara has little appetite for military action in northern Iraq, a step that would have "enormous implications" for Turkey and the United States.

"The Turks are clearly frustrated, they are clearly angry. But I also think there is not a great deal of appetite to take this next step," Geoff Morrell, the Pentagon press secretary, said.

"It would be an enormous step. It would have enormous implications, not just for us but for the Turks," he said. "I don't think there is any rush to war on the part of the Turks."

Even if Turkey braves the consequances of a military operation, it is unlikely to act before planned talks between Erdogan and Bush in Washington next month, analysts say.

A meeting of foreign ministers of Iraq's neighbours planned for November 2-3 in Istanbul will also provide a forum for Turkey to push its case, diplomats said.