"We have more expectations. We expect concrete results," Interior Minister Besir Atalay told reporters following a meeting with Iraqi and US officials to discuss joint measures against the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

During the meeting, he said, all parties "displayed determination to make our cooperation more efficient... in order to end the PKK's activities on Iraqi soil."

PKK militants have long taken refuge in neighbouring northern Iraq, using the mountainous region as a springboard across the border as part of their 25-year campaign for self rule in Kurdish-majority southeast Turkey.

Tuesday's meeting was held as part of a three-way committee set up in November to enact measures against PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and much of the international community.

At the same time, Turkey is also working on a set of fresh ouvertures to win over the Kurdish community and erode popular support for PKK rebels.

Iraq's National Security Minister Shirwan al-Waeli, who represented Baghdad at the meeting, pledged that Iraqi authorities would continue efforts "to purge the PKK" from his country.

"I have no doubts that we will achieve the desired result as long as we continue to work together and keep the doors of dialogue open," he said.

The United States was represented at the meeting by an Iraq-based military commander, Brigadier General Steven Hummer.

Aided by US intelligence, Turkey has bombed PKK camps in northern Iraq since December 2007 under a parliamentary authorisation that expires in October.

Ankara had often accused the Iraqi Kurds, who run an autonomous administration in northern Iraq, of tolerating and even aiding the rebels.

But in a major policy shift last year, it said it would seek to resolve the issue through cooperation with Baghdad and the Iraqi Kurds.

The three-way talks have resulted in the establishment of a joint centre in Arbil, northern Iraq, where officials from the three countries work mainly on intelligence-sharing.

Tuesday's meeting came amid an intensified debate in Ankara on the need for a better strategy to end the Kurdish conflict and enact measures to cajole the PKK into laying down arms.

Last week, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said his government was working on fresh ouvertures to the sizeable Kurdish community.

According to media reports, Ankara may also consider amnesty for PKK militants, excluding senior commanders.

The measures, some analysts say, could be announced shortly to pre-empt a "roadmap for a democratic solution" that jailed PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan is expected to propose in August.

Earlier this month, the PKK said it was extending a unilateral truce by six weeks until September 1 in anticipation of Ocalan's proposals.

Eager to boost its bid to join the European Union, Ankara has in recent years expanded Kurdish cultural freedoms, including the inauguration of a Kurdish-language public television channel in January.

But the government has so far failed to draw up a clear strategy to convince the PKK to end its armed struggle, ruling out dialogue with the rebels and rejecting calls to grant them amnesty.

The conflict has claimed about 45,000 lives since 1984 when the PKK took up arms.