His statement appeared to hint at disagreements between the government and the military on how to respond to a unilateral truce the rebels called on October 1.

General Yasar Buyukanit, chief of the general staff, had said "the Turkish armed forces... will maintain the struggle against terrorism until not even a single armed terrorist is left," shortly after the separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) announced the ceasefire.

"That statement is too ambitious... No one in the world has succeeded in doing that," Erdogan was quoted as saying in an interview to be aired late Monday on the CNN-Turk and Kanal D television channels.

Excerpts of the interview were published in the mass-selling daily Hurriyet, which belongs to the same media group.

The rebels "may keep quiet or go passive, but (this will not mean) they are finished off," Erdogan said.

He also welcomed as "positive" a recent suggestion by an opposition leader that PKK rebels be given an opportunity to engage in politics as a means of encouraging them to abandon their armed campaign.

Erdogan hinted, however, that this would apply only to PKK members who remained uninvolved in armed action.

He ruled out a general amnesty for the group, which Kurdish activists say would encourage it to lay down its arms.

"An amnesty is absolutely not on the government's agenda," Erdogan said. "I believe no opposition party in parliament has a different opinion on that."

Shortly after the PKK ceasefire, Erdogan had said the army would continue to be "operational," but "if the terrorist organization keeps its word, no operation will be undertaken without reason."

Since the truce, one soldier and two PKK militants have died in two separate clashes in southeast Turkey and two other soldiers were killed Saturday in a landmine explosion blamed on the rebels.

The PKK, classified a terrorist group by Turkey, the European Union and the United States, has fought for Kurdish self-rule in southeastern Turkey since 1984. The conflict has claimed more than 37,000 lives.