By Shamal Akrawi ARBIL, Iraq, April 13 (Reuters) - The speaker of Iraqi Kurdistan's parliament on Friday described as a "dangerous escalation" the call by Turkey's top general for a military operation in northern Iraq. General Yasar Buyukanit, head of Turkey's powerful military General Staff, said on Thursday the military operation would be to crush Turkish and Kurdish rebels hiding in Kurdistan. He said he had not asked parliament to authorise any such operation. "The threats by (Buyukanit) are a dangerous escalation that we take very seriously," Adnan al-Mufti told a news conference. "We in Kurdistan region's parliament will relay our rejection of these threats to different parties in Baghdad, the United States and other countries," Mufti said. Turkey has repeatedly urged the Baghdad government and U.S. forces in Iraq to crack down on an estimated 4,000 rebels from the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) who use northern Iraq as a springboard to attack targets inside Turkey. Ankara has said it reserves the right under international law to send troops into northern Iraq to tackle the rebels if Iraq and Washington continue to disregard its calls for action. The United States reacted coolly to Buyukanit's comments. The escalation in rhetoric came after Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani said in a television interview last week that Iraqi Kurds would interfere in Turkey's mainly Kurdish cities if Ankara interfered in northern Iraq. Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki sought to calm Turkey after Barzani's comments, making clear that Iraq's foreign policy was decided by the government in Baghdad. Turkish and Iraqi Kurdish leaders have since been verbally sparring, but Buyukanit's comments marked a sharp escalation. "The existence of PKK elements is ... an internal Turkish problem which they have to solve in a political manner not militarily," said Mufti who is also an aide to Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, also a Kurd. Ankara is also worried by what it sees as moves by Iraqi Kurds to build an independent state in northern Iraq, fearing this could reignite separatism among its own Kurdish population.
