Turkish parliament on Wednesday approved the motion submitted by the government for cross-border military operations in fight against the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) based in northern Iraq.
Turkish parliament Speaker Koksal Toptan announced after the voting that the parliament passed the motion by 507 votes to 19.
A total of 526 lawmakers participated in the voting after hearing a debate over the motion.
The motion empowers the government to order the military forces to cross into northern Iraq to pursue the PKK rebels who take shelter there during a one-year period.
Earlier on Wednesday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to pledge to ending the presence and activities of the PKK his country.
The Iraqi government "is absolutely determined to end the activities and the presence of the PKK terrorist organization on Iraqi territory," Turkey's Anatolia news agency quoted Maliki assaying.
Asking for "another chance" for his country, Maliki said his government has given a strict order to the Kurdish autonomous regional administration in the north of Iraq to that end and a special delegation was formed for the issue.
In response, Erdogan said he could meet with the Iraqi delegation but stressed his country could not "endure any further loss of time."
He reiterated to his Iraqi counterpart Turkey's resolution towards taking any measure against the terrorist organization.
The PKK has increased its attacks on government troops in southeastern Turkey, which led to rising Turkish demands for an incursion into northern Iraq to crush the rebels based there.
The group, listed as a terrorist organization by Turkey, the United States and the European Union, launched an armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in the mainly Kurdish southeastern Turkey in 1984, sparking decades of strife that has claimed more than 30,000 lives.
Source: Xinhua
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