ISTANBUL, Oct 31 (Reuters) - These are the leading stories in the Turkish press on Wednesday. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

SABAH

- "The PKK in panic". Commanders from the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrilla group tell their members not to flee after 35 of their fighters were killed in an operation in the eastern province of Tunceli.

YENI SAFAK

- Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan says Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani has allowed his region in northern Iraq to become a shelter for PKK militants.

HURRIYET

- The PKK guerrilla who gave the order for an attack on Turkish troops in which 12 soldiers were killed and eight kidnapped was a former non-commissioned officer in the army.

AKSAM

- Prime Minister Erdogan criticises politicians, writers and retired army officers who exert pressure for the military to launch a large-scale operation into northern Iraq, saying they are provocateurs.

MILLIYET

- A declaration by the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party after a three-day congress in the southeastern city of Diyarbakir calls for the establishment of regional parliaments which would share responsibility with the central government for areas such as education, health, culture and agriculture.

CUMHURIYET

- The official Republic Day reception at the presidential palace is transformed into a headscarf show on the first occasion that this event is staged under the presidency of Abdullah Gul, whose wife wears a headscarf.

VATAN

- The U.S. military transported a total of 628 prisoners believed to be members of al Qaeda via the Incirlik airbase in southern Turkey to the U.S. Guantanamo Bay detention camp on the island of Cuba.

ZAMAN

- Turkey earns poor marks on the issue of Cyprus in the European Union progress report which is expected to be published on November 6.

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