Babacan was expected to meet top Iraqi leaders including Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari.

"Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari will hold a press conference with the Turkish foreign minister today" in Baghdad, a foreign ministry statement said.

Zebari had announced the visit in the Iraqi parliament on Monday but there was no immediate confirmation from Babacan.

"There has been a plan for some time to visit Baghdad, but at the moment I cannot determine the date of the visit," the Turkish foreign minister said through an interpreter at a press conference in Kuwait City.

Turkish anger over the presence of rebels of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) in northern Iraq intensified after a weekend attack by the rebels on a military patrol that left 12 soldiers dead.

Turkish members of parliament have authorised the government to take military action in northern Iraq to flush out the rebels if it deems it necessary.

But the government has so far accepted US calls to give diplomacy a chance to resolve the crisis.