The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) is expected to discuss the issue first at a cabinet meeting on Monday and within its parliamentary group on Tuesday.

It is then expected to ask lawmakers to vote on a motion on the dispatch of troops on Wednesday or Thursday, the sources added.

The Turkish government and the powerful army have come out in favor of sending up to 10,000 troops to war-torn Iraq, despite sharp opposition from the public and some members of parliament, which under Turkish law must approve any decision on sending troops abroad.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan told the NTV news channel on Thursday his government wanted a decision to be reached on sending troops within "10 to 15 days".

"We plan to wrap up this issue in a very short time. We can finalize it in 10-15 days," he said.

He added that the number of Turkish troops to be sent to Iraq and their area of responsibility had not yet been determined, adding that his government would seek approval in principle from parliament on the idea of deployment before hammering out the details with the United States.

"We want to have a broad authorization from parliament. Once we have the authorization, we will determine those issues," he said.

The government believes that taking part in a stability force in Iraq will help mend relations with the United States following parliament's refusal on March 1 to allow US troops to use its territory as a springboard to attack Iraq.

It also wants a say in the political and economic reconstruction of its neighbour and a finger on the pulse of Iraqi Kurdistan, an area which borders its own sometimes rebellious Kurdish region.

Turkey is also keen to strike at the remnants of its own Kurdish rebels who have sought refuge in the mountains of northern Iraq.

It has repeatedly called on the United States to take action against some 5,000 armed members of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), renamed KADEK, which both countries have branded a terrorist organisation.

On Thursday, Turkey and the United States announced they had reached agreement on an "action plan" against the PKK-KADEK following talks involving a US inter-governmental delegation led by Joseph Cofer Black, the State Department's coordinator for counterterrorism.

"There is no place for PKK-KADEK in Iraq," a senior US official said after the talks.

He declined to go into details of the plan, but said it involved removing "the threat posed by the PKK-KADEK" and would likely involve coordinated action by law enforcement, financial regulators, security services and the military.

The AKP has a large majority in parliament, but has vowed to only ask for parliamentary approval for the deployment if it is sure that it will be given.

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