Turkey has deployed 1,357 military personnel in northern Iraq to fight against members of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), said Turkish National Defense Minister Vecdi Gonul on Thursday.

Gonul was quoted by semi-official Anatolia News Agency as saying, "Turkish Armed Forces (TSK) have deployed 1,357 personnel in northern Iraq to fight against the PKK, gather information regarding the developments in the region and work as liaison officers under US forces in Kirkuk, Mosul and Tal Afar."

He added that such cross-border operations have been staged to pursue the terrorists in northern Iraq since 1992.

The PKK, which strives for an independent Kurdish state in southeast Turkey, launched an armed campaign against the Turkish government in 1984, and over 30,000 people, mostly Kurds, were killed in the violence.

Fighting dropped off significantly in 1999 when PKK commander Abdullah Ocalan was captured, but the PKK called off a unilateral ceasefire in 2004, threatening to wreck the fragile peace in the area.

The Turkish government refuses to negotiate with the group, listing it as a terrorist organization.

(Xinhua News Agency March 4, 2005)