The vote coincides with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's pledges to introduce measures to boost the rights of the country's sizeable Kurdish community and secure an end to the 25-year fighting with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Of the 475 lawmakers present in the 550-seat chamber, 452 backed the motion giving the government another year-long mandate for cross-border operations against PKK hideouts in northern Iraq.

Only 23 lawmakers voted against the motion.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the fresh mandate would deter PKK rebels and bolster Ankara's efforts to introduce democratic reforms.

"Keeping the option of military force on the table, along with economic, social and cultural measures, will strengthen our deterrence and gives us more room to maneouvre," he told the assembly.

"Our target is to establish a sustainable environment of security in which we will never again need a mandate such as this," he added.

The current mandate expires on October 17. Parliament had already once extended the mandate, first approved in 2007.

All opposition parties, except the pro-Kurdish Democracy Party (DTP), gave solid backing to the government in Tuesday's vote.

The DTP argued that extending the mandate was contrary to the government's plan to boost democracy in a bid to end the bloodshed.

"There can be no peace when people are dying... Why do we insist on military operations? The people living this country want us to stop this war," Gultan Kisanak, a DTP lawmaker said.

Using intelligence supplied by the United States, the Turkish army has staged a series of air raids against rebels in the region since December 2007, and in February the following year carried out a week-long ground incursion.

The general staff has said that hundreds of PKK militants have been killed in the strikes, numbers that are almost always contradicted by the rebels.

Since August, the government has been trying to win public support for a plan to improve rights and liberties for Kurds, with the hope of eroding support for the PKK.

There have been no details on the planned measures, but the government has already ruled out Kurdish demands for an end to military operations against the PKK, a general amnesty for rebels and a constitutional amendment to give official recognition to Kurdish identity and culture.

The PKK -- considered a terrorist group by Turkey, the United States and the European Union -- has been fighting for self-rule in the mainly Kurdish southeast and east of Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed some 45,000 lives.