(Adds White House comment)

By Mariam Karouny

BAGHDAD, Oct 18 (Reuters) - Iraq anticipates only limited Turkish air strikes on Kurdish separatists in the north of the country and wants the guerrillas to leave as soon as possible, Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said on Thursday.

In an interview with Reuters, Zebari said the Iraqi government was "not comfortable" with a vote in Turkey's parliament on Wednesday giving its military the green light to hunt members of the Kurdish Workers Party (PKK) in Iraq.

Turkey's decision has alarmed Washington and other allies who fear an incursion into northern Iraq would bring chaos to the region, threaten oil supplies and harm U.S. attempts to quell relentless violence in the country.

"If something happens it is possibly going to be air strikes on some suspected PKK positions," Zebari said. "But to talk about a major military offensive and major cross-border incursion, that I do not expect."

Zebari's comments were the first reaction from the Iraqi government since the vote in Turkey and he underlined that Baghdad saw further dialogue with Ankara as the only way to resolve the festering PKK problem.

"Our formal request is that they leave Iraqi soil and leave Iraq for its people and do not bring us more problems than we're already suffering," Zebari said, adding that the PKK should leave "as soon as possible".

It was the first public call by Zebari, who is a Kurd, for the PKK to leave Iraq.

"(Turkey has) a problem, we are ready to discuss it, talk about it and fulfil our commitments. But the starting point should be sitting at the dialogue table to agree on mechanisms."

He said the Iraqi and Turkish governments were still talking about the issue and that he expected a Turkish ministerial-level team to visit Baghdad next week.

IRAQI PROTESTS

Zebari warned there was a risk a Turkish incursion would be seen as an attempt to destabilise the one relatively calm region in Iraq, rather than just a targeted attack on the PKK.

"My expectation is that there will definitely be resistance, especially if the army enters populated areas, then there will be resistance from the Peshmerga and the people there," he said, referring to the Kurdish armed forces.

The United States, Ankara's NATO ally, welcomed a visit to Turkey this week by Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi and other efforts by Baghdad to coordinate with its neighbour.

"What you have now is the Americans and the Iraqis working together with the Turks... against the PKK," said spokeswoman Dana Perino. "That's what a good neighbor does."

"What we want to see is for Turkey to not send additional troops into that region."

Thousands of people took to the streets in several northern Iraqi towns on Thursday to protest against the Turkish vote.

Carrying banners with slogans in English, Kurdish, Turkish and Arabic, the marchers called for peaceful dialogue with their northern neighbour to end the crisis, but vowed to resist any military invasion of their Kurdistan region.

Kurdistan is a self-governing, largely autonomous region within Iraq.

The sharp rise in PKK strikes on Turkish security forces in southeastern Turkey this year has put Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan under pressure to launch a major operation.

PKK fighters hide in inaccessible, remote mountain bases near the Turkish and Iranian borders and are seldom seen in the towns and villages of the Kurdish region.

Zebari said it was not a question of whether Iraqi wanted to drive the PKK out, but rather an issue of military capability given its forces were battling militants elsewhere in Iraq. Many Kurdish army units have been transferred to Baghdad.

"We are not saying that we do not want to, or we are not ready to, it is only a matter of time," said Zebari, adding that the Turkish parliamentary vote was counterproductive.

"The Iraqi government is not comfortable with such a decision. This permission is a sword hanging over the neck of Iraq and its unity and sovereignty, and we take it seriously."

(Additional reporting by Shamal Aqrawi in Arbil)

AlertNet news is provided by