Turkey’s parliament today overwhelmingly approved plans for a cross-border offensive against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Turkish Prime Minister, has played down the threat of an imminent attack but in the face of mounting international criticism the Turkish Government has paved the way for a military reaction to attacks from within Iraq.

The White House has warned Turkey against unilateral action in northern Iraq - the only part of the troubled country that has remained relatively stable amid the violent political convulsions that have torn apart the rest of Iraq. The Iraqi Government has also appealed to the Turks not to take military action.

President Bush said the US was making it clear that Turkey should not deploy a large military presence to Iraq.

“Actually they have troops already stationed in Iraq and they’ve had troops stationed there for quite a while,” he said. “We don’t think it’s in their interest to send more troops in.”

He was speaking after Congress backtracked on a controversial plan to condemn the mass killing of Armenians by Turks in 1915 as genocide - a resolution opposed by the White House. “One thing Congress should not be doing is sorting out the historical record of the Ottoman Empire,” Mr Bush said.

Today's vote in the Turkish parliament has given the country's army a free hand to cross the border and take any action it feels necessary.

News of the result pushed oil prices to a new record high of $89 a barrel as fears grew for instability in oil-rich northern Iraq.

Earlier, Mr Erdogan described preparations for military action as "self-defence". He said: "Passage of this motion does not mean an immediate incursion will follow, but we will act at the right time and under the right conditions."

Turkey says there are about 3,000 Kurdish separatist guerillas of the PKK party using northern Iraq as a base to launch attacks in Turkey. In more than two decades of conflict between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish state, more than 30,000 people have been killed.

The immediate trigger for Turkey's desire to invade was a deadly ambush against Turkish troops last week, which increased the public pressure on the Government to be seen to take action.

The Turkish Government's invasion threat has caused alarm in Baghdad. The Iraqi Government held a crisis cabinet meeting last night, and decided to send a high-level political and security delegation to Turkey to seek a diplomatic solution.

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