"We are against the continuation of violence. We do not see Turkey's security as separate from our own. We will expend all efforts to end this deplorable situation," Barzani said after talks with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

"We see our future in improved ties with Turkey... We are ready for all kind of cooperation to further better our ties," he said through an interpreter.

The separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has fought Ankara since 1984, has bases in remote mountains in Barzani's autonomous region in northern Iraq, which it uses as a launching pad for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.

Mounting PKK violence this year culminated in a rocket attack on a navy base Monday, which killed six soldiers and prompted a flurry of security meetings in Ankara.

Turkey often accused the Iraqi Kurds of tolerating and even aiding the PKK, but has recently dropped such hostile rhetoric, shifting to a policy of seeking cooperation with the local authorities to curb the rebels.

Iraqi Kurds however are reluctant to fight their kin, and Barzani Thursday urged Turkey's Kurds to lend support to a fragile initiative by the Ankara government to broaden the rights of the restive community.

Davutoglu hailed the warming ties, stressing that Turkey had a vision of "full economic integration" with Barzani's region, based on a "common strategy of trade, energy and transport."

He issued a mild warning that Iraqi Kurds should do more to curb the PKK.

"The most important factor threatening this common vision is unfortunately the ongoing terrorist activities which aim to sow discord between us," he said.

"We expect full cooperation from all our Iraqi brothers, particularly from the Iraqi Kurdish regional administration. We are happy that this cooperation has recently increased."

It was Barzani's first visit to Turkey since the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, which had badly poisoned ties amid Turkish fears that Iraqi Kurds planned to break away from Baghdad and thus encouraged Kurdish separatism in Turkey.

Often derided as "tribal leader" at the peak of tensions, he was greeted as "regional president" in Ankara Thursday.

Barzani was to meet also with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President Abdullah Gul and the chairman of Turkey's main Kurdish political party.

The PKK, listed as a terrorist group by Turkey and much of the international community, took up arms for self-rule in Turkey's Kurdish-majority southeast, sparking a conflict that has cost about 45,000 lives.

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