In a statement released after a day of talks on the issue, the National Security Council (MGK) said Turkey wanted "to lend its support to security in the region and the stabilisation of close neighbours".

The body, which is made up of the nation's main leaders, nevertheless stopped short of calling for Turkey to send peacekeeping troops to Iraq.

But it did stress that national unity and stability in Iraq would have an effect on Turkey's "security and national interests".

Observers say the Turkish goverment is likely to decide at the end of September on whether to call for the dispatch of troops to its southern neighbour.

The final decision lies with parliament, where Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan enjoys a large majority.

Eager to have a say in the shaping of post-war Iraq and make up for its failure to back the war, the Turkish government, supported by the influential army, is willing to send up to 10,000 troops to help the United States restore stability in its neighbour's territory.

But the plan has triggered harsh objections from Iraqi leaders, particularly from the Kurds, whose ties with Turkey have long been turbulent.

AT Friday's meeting the MGK had been due to discuss intelligence reports from Turkish delegations who have recently returned from fact-finding missions to Iraq to gauge sentiment on the ground.

But anti-Turkish statements in Baghdad appear to have strengthened opposition at home to the dispatch of troops, with both members of parliament and the general public expressing strong doubts over the plan.

"No group in Iraq has displayed sympathy with the idea of a Turkish deployment. Therefore, it will not be meaningful to expect that Turkish soldiers can contribute to stability in Iraq," the head of Turkey's influential business group TUSIAD, Tuncay Ozilhan, said ahead of the MGK meeting.

US Secretary of State Colin Powell also admitted Monday that Iraqis had "serious sensitivities associated with Turkish troops," but said Washington will continue talks with Ankara on a possible Turkish deployment.

Many here believe a UN resolution paving the way for an international force in Iraq will facilitate Turkey's decision and legitimize in the eyes of Iraqis the deployment of more foreign troops on their soil.

Erdogan this week suggested as much, though he refused to directly link his decision to any by the United Nations.

To allay the misgivings of its sole Muslim NATO ally, the United States has also promised to crack down on an estimated 5,000 Turkish Kurd rebels hiding in the mountains of northern Iraq.

But overwhelmed by increasing instability in other regions, US forces have so far failed to take any action against the militants of the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), an armed group considered as terrorist by both Ankara and Washington.

"Ankara is suspicious that there will be no move against this group in the near future. It is curious that no step has been taken against the PKK while airborne operations have been carried out against extremist groups in northern Iraq," the popular daily Sabah wrote Friday.

Many in Turkey have suggested that concrete US action against the PKK should be a precondition to any help their own troops might give the Americans.

WAR.WIRE