"Unfortunately, this incident has led to the biggest crisis of confidence between Turkish and US forces, and has turned into a crisis," chief of staff Hilmi Ozkok told reporters as he received the US ambassador to Ankara, Robert Pearson, who is leaving Turkey at the end of his term.

General Ozkok said he believed the arrest of the soldiers was not the result of a "US army policy", but expressed doubt that the incident was of a local nature.

"Considering the senior status of the people we contacted and the amount of the time before the soldiers' release, I find it difficult to evaluate this merely as a local incident," he said.

The 11 Turkish soldiers were arrested on July 4 in Sulaymaniyah in Kurdish-held northern Iraq, along with other suspects, on what US officials described as "suspicion of involvement in an alleged plot to harm Iraqi civilian officials in northern Iraq."

Turkish media reports have suggested that the Turkish troops were arrested upon intelligence that they were planning to assasinate the Kurdish governor of Kirkuk.

"I do not know what the intelligence was, but it is totally unacceptable that intelligence be investigated in this manner," Ozkok said.

WAR.WIRE