"Regarding the latest operations targeting the KCK, no one should expect them to end," Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quoted as saying by the Anatolia news agency in his home city of Rize.

Turkey claims that the KCK is the urban wing of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an outlawed rebel group that has been labelled a terrorist organisation by Ankara and several foreign governments.

Ankara further alleges that the KCK wants to replace Turkish government institutions in the southeastern Anatolia region, which is majority Kurd, with its own political structures.

"There is one state in Turkey: the state of Turkey. There cannot be a second," Erdogan said.

"Whether in the media or elsewhere, you must be careful what you say about the KCK. This amounts to supporting terrorism," the prime minister added.

Since 2009, some 700 people have been arrested over alleged links to the KCK, according to government figures.

Erdogan's comments came amid escalating clashes between Anakara and the PKK rebels.

The Turkish military launched an operation in northern Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region after a PKK attack last month that killed 24 soldiers, the army's biggest loss since 1993.