March 25 (Reuters) - President Abdullah Gul has been on a visit to Iraq, the first by a Turkish head of state since 1976, consolidating relations with Iraqi leaders and seeking closer relations with Iraq's largely autonomous Kurdistan region.

Here are some details on recent Turkish relations with Iraq and of Turkey's incursions into northern Iraq in pursuit of Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) rebels seeking a homeland in southeastern Turkey.

* POLITICS:

-- On Tuesday Gul met Kurdish Prime Minister Nechirvan Barzani for talks in Baghdad, the first time a Turkish leader agreed to meet formally an official from the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG), which has enjoyed de facto autonomy from Iraq since 1991.

-- Gul said he recognised the Kurdistan Regional Government and the use of the term "Kurdistan" as legitimate as it was written in the Iraqi Constitution. Acknowledging the existence of the KRG and particularly "Kurdistan" has been taboo among Turkish politicians mindful of reigniting Kurdish hopes o statehood on Turkish soil.

-- Gul also met Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and President Jalal Talabani, himself a Kurd.

-- Ties have been strained between Baghdad and Ankara over the PKK, but in July 2008, a visit to Iraq by Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan began a significant thaw in relations. Ties between Ankara and the KRG has been particularly strained but both sides said they were keen to improve ties.

TRADE:

-- Gul's visit also focused on economic links, particularly in the energy sector. Turkish firms and products dominate northern Iraq's economy.

-- Turkey and Iraq are now major trading partners and some 400,000 barrels of Iraqi oil a day -- more than a fifth of its exports -- are piped through the Turkish port of Ceyhan.

-- Last November Turkish state firms Botas and TPAO and global energy company Royal Dutch Shell announced they had formed a natural gas exploration and marketing partnership in Iraq.

NORTHERN IRAQ:

-- In Oct. 2008 Turkey's parliament approved a request to extend a mandate to launch army operations against PKK Kurdish rebels in north Iraq, days after a cross-border attack killed 17 Turkish soldiers.

-- In January, Turkey, Iraq and the United States also agreed to set up a command centre in north Iraq to coordinate efforts against the PKK.

-- The PKK is considered a terrorist organisation by the United States and the European Union and has been blamed for the deaths of nearly 40,000 people since it launched its armed struggle for an ethnic homeland in southeast Turkey in 1984.

-- Gul said a general amnesty for PKK rebels was not on the agenda, something Barzani said he would welcome.

* MAJOR INCURSIONS INTO NORTHERN IRAQ:

-- In 1995 Turkey mounted a six-week, 35,000-man operation into Kurdish-held northern Iraq but failed to achieve its stated aim of clearing the area of the PKK.

-- In May 1997, up to 10,000 troops launched a cross-border push into Kurdish-held northern Iraq, the start of regular operations and a semi-permanent presence there.

-- On May 22, the Turkish army said it had killed 1,146 PKK rebels during the incursion and captured the Zap valley which it said was the main PKK base. Turkey said it had withdrawn most of its forces by the end of June. There were two more major incursions in September and December 1997.

-- In the last 12 months Turkey has stepped up offensives against PKK bases in northern Iraq but confined itself to shelling and air strikes since a brief large-scale land offensive in February 2008.

-- Several thousand rebels are believed based in the Iraqi mountains from where they launch attacks into Turkish territory.

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