Kurdish rebels killed 12 Turkish soldiers in an ambush yesterday near the Iraqi border, forcing Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan to call crisis talks that may authorize a cross-border military offensive.

The attack, one of the worst in more than a decade by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), came four days after the Ankara parliament backed a motion allowing troops to enter northern Iraq to fight guerrillas hiding there.

The United States, Turkey?s NATO ally, and the Baghdad government have urged Ankara to refrain from military action, fearing this could destabilize the most peaceful part of Iraq and possibly the wider region.

Erdogan said military and government officials would meet under the chairmanship of President Abdullah Gul to decide how Turkey should respond. ?Our parliament has granted us the authority to act and within this framework we will do whatever has to be done?, he said at an Istanbul polling station after voting in yesterday?s referendum on constitutional changes.

The PKK attack, which wounded up to 16 people, occurred in Hakkari province in the mountainous border area early yesterday. ?Fighting is continuing between the soldiers and rebels in the area, with our troops backed up by Cobra helicopters?, a security source told Reuters.

In Arbil, Iraq, a Kurdish military official said the Turkish military had fired artillery shells into about 11 areas along the border in Iraq early yesterday but there were no casualties. Turkey has deployed as many as 100 000 troops along the border to try to stop the PKK rebels crossing from Iraqi bases to stage attacks inside Turkey.

Erdogan?s government is under pressure from public opinion and the powerful military to take action against the PKK following a series of deadly attacks on Turkish security forces.

?We cannot expect Turkey to remain silent in the face of attacks like these,? Murat Yetkin, a commentator for the liberal Radikal daily told NTV television. ?This attack, coming on a day when Turkey votes in a referendum, is a very clear provocation. It shows the PKK is not interested in democratic initiatives?, Yetkin said. Yesterday?s referendum will decide whether Turkey?s future presidents will be elected directly by the people instead of by parliament, as well as other changes.

Historic increases

Turkey?s tougher stance has helped propel global oil prices to historic increases over the past week. The pro-Kurdish Firat news agency quoted one of Turkey?s most wanted rebel commanders on Friday as saying the PKK could target oil pipelines if Turkish forces attack them in Iraq.

Pipelines carrying Iraqi and Caspian crude cross eastern Turkey. The crisis has exposed serious strains in relations between Washington and Ankara. The United States relies on Turkey for the bulk of its logistical support for its forces operating in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Ankara blames the PKK for the deaths of more than 30 000 people since the group launched its armed campaign for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984. The United States and European Union class the PKK as a terrorist organization.

Ferit DEMIR