Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is in Turkey for talks expected to focus on security concerns and Turkish Kurd rebels who use Iraqi territory as safe haven.
Mr. Maliki described the visit as an effort to develop wide-ranging bilateral relations.
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is expected to warn Mr. Maliki Tuesday against allowing Kurdistan Workers' Party - or PKK - rebels to shelter in northern Iraq.
Turkey has threatened cross-border military raids to destroy PKK bases. The United States and Iraq say such an operation will destabilize Iraq's relatively calm Kurdish north.
The head of northern Iraq's Kurdish administration - Massoud Barzani - has rejected Turkey's demands to crackdown on PKK guerrillas.
Mr. Maliki heads to Iran Wednesday.
In other developments, the U.S. Defense Department says a troop rotation has resulted in the largest ever number of U.S. troops to be stationed in Iraq.
Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says there are between 161,000-162,000 U.S. troops there because of new troops overlapping with troops they are replacing.
In other news, the U.S. military says coalition forces killed eight terrorists in raids across the country since Monday. Troops also captured 15 suspected al-Qaida in Iraq terrorists in operations in Tikrit, Mosul and Bayji.
Separately, the military announced Tuesday that troops detained a commander of the Mahdi Army, which is loyal to radical Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr. - VOA News
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