ANKARA, Turkey - Turkey's prime minister said Saturday that his country would take steps to fight Iraq-based Kurdish rebels "when needed," regardless of international pressure.
Turkey has been under intense pressure from the United States, Iraq and other countries to refrain from a cross-border offensive against the rebels, which they say will destabilize one of Iraq's most stable regions.
"Whenever an operation is needed to be carried out, we will do that," Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told a Turkish flag-waving crowd in the western city of Izmit. "We do not need to ask anything from anyone for that. Some (countries) might have other wishes, but we make our decisions on our own."
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has killed at least 42 people in the past month, including around 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes. Turkish troops, meanwhile, repelled another attack by a large Kurdish rebel group Tuesday as it tried to sneak across the border, the military said.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
ANKARA, Turkey (AP) - Kurdish rebels said Saturday they are considering a lawmaker's request for the release of eight Turkish soldiers captured just under a week ago - an incident that increased already heightened tensions in the area bordering Iraq.
Meanwhile, about 1,000 Turkish nationalists marched on the U.S. Embassy in the capital, Ankara, accusing the United States of supporting the rebels by not cracking down on them in northern Iraq.
"Down with the USA, down with the PKK," the group chanted before laying a black wreath at the gate of the embassy in the peaceful protest.
Another 1,500 people - mostly children - took to the streets of the predominantly Kurdish city of Sirnak, in southeastern Turkey near the Iraqi border, to protest the recent surge in rebel violence.
Waving red and white Turkish flags, people in the crowd chanted "martyrs never die, the nation will never be divided," in one of several protests in the border area where the violence has been escalating.
In Diyarbakir, the largest city in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast, a group of local NGOs issued a joint statement calling on the PKK to end the violence, while urging Turkey not to send its troops across the border.
The groups said if Turkey sends its troops into northern Iraq, it will "further complicate the problem and dramatically increase the loss of lives and cause the collapse of the regional economy."
The Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, has killed at least 42 people, including around 30 Turkish soldiers in two ambushes near the Iraqi border, over the past month. Turkish troops, meanwhile, repelled another attack by a large Kurdish rebel group as it tried to sneak into Turkey on Tuesday, the military said.
The PKK said it captured the eight Turkish soldiers in an operation on Oct. 21.
Ahmet Turk, a Kurdish member of Turkey's Parliament whose Democratic Society Party is often accused of having ties with the separatist rebels, called Wednesday for the release of the soldiers in an effort to help defuse the situation.
Turkey has not officially acknowledged that the soldiers were captured, but after the PKK released photos and video of them, Turkey said there "appears to be evidence there are eight soldiers being held," and urged that they be released unharmed.
Speaking in the northern Iraqi city of Sulaimaniyah, PKK spokesman Abdul-Rahman Al-Chaderchi told The Associated Press the group was working on a response.
"We are discussing the demand, and within a short time we will end the issue of the captives," Al-Chaderchi said. The PKK has, in the past, released captured Turkish soldiers unharmed.
The Turkish military presence remained heavy in the border area on Saturday, with regular patrols securing the roads and checkpoints.
Helicopters ferried more Turkish troops to the border area, and military units were put on alert against a possible rebel attack, private CNN-Turk television reported.
Military posts in the town of Cukurca, near the Iraqi border, were fortified with cement barriers designed to keep vehicles away, CNN-Turk reported.
Col. Hussein Tamr, an Iraqi Border Guard officer, said that Turkish forces had shelled two Iraqi areas along the western portion of Iraq's 205-mile border with Turkey.
Despite military momentum and public calls for action building in Turkey, the country's military chief said Friday that his country would wait until Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with President Bush on Nov. 5 in Washington before deciding on any cross-border offensive.
A military campaign in Iraq could derail one of the few stable areas in Iraq, and trap the United States in an awkward position between key allies: NATO-member Turkey, and the Baghdad government as well as self-governing Iraqi Kurds in the north. Turkey has been reluctant to cross the border, fearing a messy conflict as well as damage to its international alliances.
For months, Turkey has repeatedly demanded more action from the United States and Iraq in its fight against PKK. The group has been fighting for autonomy for the predominantly Kurdish population in southeast Turkey since 1984, and is labeled a terrorist group by Washington and the European Union.
In comments unlikely to ease Turkish frustration, the top American military commander in northern Iraq said Friday he plans to do "absolutely nothing" to counter Kurdish rebels operating from the region.
U.S. Maj. Gen. Benjamin Mixon said it was not the U.S. military's responsibility to act. Mixon also said that he has sent no additional American troops to the area and is not tracking hiding places or logistics activities of PKK rebels.
In Istanbul, Erdogan slammed European Union countries for not extraditing Kurdish rebels to Turkey, saying they were failing to support Turkey's struggle. He did not specify any country, but Turkey maintains the separatist rebels take refuge and raise money in western Europe.
"We would like to see our friends beside us in this struggle," Erdogan said.
Meanwhile, Iraqi officials - including the defense minister - returned home Saturday after talks in Ankara on Friday failed to produce any breakthroughs.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry said the Iraqi side was "approaching the issue with goodwill," but that its suggestion of reinforcing border outposts to prevent rebel incursions into Turkey and other offers were not the "urgent and determined" steps needed.
Turkey has demanded the extradition of PKK leaders, and CNN-Turk television, citing unidentified Iraqi officials, said Ankara is seeking a total of 153 PKK members.
Turkish Foreign Ministry officials said Saturday that new talks can be held as long as Iraqis bring concrete proposals, CNN-Turk television reported.
But at the same time, Iraq's Brig. Gen. Jabbar Yawar, an undersecretary for the ministry governing Kurdish protection forces known as Peshmerga, said his expectations for the talks had been low.
"We expected that the talks would fail because Turkey wants imaginary and impossible demands. They want us to kill all PKK for them while they themselves cannot do that," he said.
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Associated Press Writer Doug Birch contributed to this report from Sulaimaniyah, Iraq.
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