The Turkish government asked the Parliament on Monday to renew mandate for its armed forces to attack Kurdish militants’ bases in Iraq for another year.

The Turkish government asked the Parliament on Monday to renew mandate for its armed forces to attack Kurdish militants’ bases in Iraq for another year.

The assembly will prioritize debate on the bill submitted by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), parliamentary sources said, with the current mandate expiring on October 17.
Parliament has renewed the mandate annually since 2007, allowing Turkish forces to hit targets on Iraqi soil where militants from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) are believed to be holed up.

The last such operation was in early September when Turkish jets struck suspected PKK ammunition depots and shelters, but ground incursions are rare.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said last week 144 members of the security forces and 239 militants had been killed since the start of the year, marking one of the deadliest phases of the confrontation in more than a decade.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu held talks Monday with the president of Iraq's autonomous Kurdistan region, Massud Barzani, and its former prime minister, Barham Salih, on counter-terrorism cooperation between the administrations.

Both leaders came to Ankara to attend an AKP congress held Sunday, amid heightened tensions between the central Baghdad government and its Turkish counterpart.