"The cabinet will meet in a special session to discuss the motion," Anatolia news agency quoted Sener as saying early Tuesday.

He was speaking after a meeting between Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul and other ministers to discuss the imminent threat of a US-led war on neighboring Iraq.

On March 1, the Turkish parliament had narrowly rejected a US request to deploy 62,000 soldiers in the country to invade Iraq from the north.

Washington had since stepped up pressure on Ankara to call a second parliamentary vote or at least allow overflights by US planes.

The cabinet was scheduled to convene at 0900 GMT, but it was not immediately clear what a new motion might request.

In answer to insistent questions, Erdogan hinted early Tuesday that the government could unveil the motion when presenting its programme to parliament Tuesday afternoon.

Several Turkish newspapers suggested on Tuesday that a new motion might only allow for the opening of Turkish air space to US planes and for the dispatch of a small number of US special forces to northern Iraq.

Others suggested the government would submit the same motion as that rejected on March 1, which also called for the dispatch of Turkish soldiers to northern Iraq.

WAR.WIRE