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).

Lawmakers were expected to overwhelmingly back the motion giving the government another year-long mandate for cross-border operations against PKK rebels in the autonomous north of Iraq, where the militants keep rear bases.

The ruling Justice and Development Party dominates the 550-seat parliament and opposition parties, except the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party, support the motion.

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

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.

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.