WRAPUP 6-Turkish MPs call for army move into northern Iraq

ANKARA, Oct 17 (Reuters) - Turkish lawmakers called on Wednesday for a military operation in northern Iraq to crush Kurdish rebels hiding there as Iraqi leaders stepped up a diplomatic offensive to avert any attack.

Parliament was scheduled later on Wednesday to pass a motion providing the legal basis for a cross-border incursion that the United States, Turkey's NATO ally, fears would destabilise the most peaceful part of Iraq and potentially the wider region.

Ankara's stance has helped drive global oil prices to $88 a barrel, a new record.

"Turkey must eliminate this threat to its military, economic and diplomatic interests," opposition lawmaker Sukru Elekdag told parliament, pledging his party's support for the motion.

Opposition MPs also slammed U.S. policy in the region, reiterating Turkish fears it will lead to the creation of an independent Kurdish state in northern Iraq -- a move Ankara fears could fan separatism among its own Kurdish population.

Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan has played down expectations of any imminent attack, but the parliamentary vote will effectively give NATO's second biggest army a free rein to cross the mountainous border as and when it sees fit.

Erdogan is under heavy public pressure to act after a series of deadly attacks on Turkish troops by rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), some 3,000 of whom are believed to be hiding in mountainous northern Iraq.

OIL

Fearing possible rebel sabotage, Turkey has beefed up security for a major oil pipeline carrying Caspian crude from the Azeri capital Baku via Georgia to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Ceyhan, a senior energy ministry source told Reuters.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki telephoned Erdogan to reiterate his commitment to combating the PKK.

An official at Turkey's prime minister's office denied a television report that Maliki had offered to conduct joint operations against PKK rebels.

The Baghdad government said it would shortly send a high-level political and security delegation to Turkey.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, who is a Kurd, condemned the PKK tactics but urged Turkey to show restraint.

"We consider the activities of the PKK against the interests of the Kurdish people and against the interests of Turkey. We have asked the PKK to stop fighting and end military activity," Talabani said during a visit to Paris.

NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer and U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined the chorus of calls for restraint and a diplomatic solution to the crisis.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said during an official visit to Ankara he backed Turkey's fight against terrorism.

Ankara blames the PKK, considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union, for the deaths of more than 30,000 people since the group launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

Analysts say that despite its tough rhetoric Turkey may limit itself to aerial bombardment of rebel targets and small forays across the border while avoiding a major incursion. (Additional reporting by Orhan Coskun and Evren Mesci in Ankara, Mark John in Brussels and Baghdad bureau)