Iraqi Kurds ask Turkey for negotiation

ANKARA, Turkey, Oct. 15 (UPI) -- Kurdish leaders in Iraq vowed to increase efforts to stop Kurdish militants from provoking an attack by Turkey, KUNA reported Monday.

"As a government of Kurdistan region, we will not allow our soil or Iraqi land to be used in launching attacks on any neighboring country," Nechirvan Barzani, prime minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government, said in a statement to Turkish leaders.

Barzani, who urged all sides to seek a political solution, apologized to Turkey for the deaths last week of 13 Turkish soldiers killed by Kurdish PKK militants, KUNA reported Monday.

"We condemn this incident," Barzani said. "The more blood is shed, the more the problem becomes complicated."

The Partiya Karkeren Kurdistan, or PKK, is an armed group founded in the 1970s to create an independent socialist Kurdish state from land in southeastern Turkey, northeastern Iraq, northeastern Syria and northwestern Iran.

Meanwhile, The New Anatolian in Ankara reported Monday the PKK is trying to provoke the Turkish army into a full-scale attack in northern Iraq while the United States and the European Union remain opposed to Turkey crossing the border.

Turkish military leaders say the PKK's escalating rocket attacks can only be halted by an incursion deep into Iraqi territory, the New Anatolian reported.