A Kurdish envoy has underscored Russia's mediating role in the growing conflict between Turkey and PKK rebels holed up in northern Iraq.

Babakr Khoshavi, Iraqi Kurdistan representative to the Commonwealth of Independent States, said Russia could use its history with the Kurds to help avert a potential military confrontation, RIA Novosti reported.

"Russia has a historically good relationship with the Kurds, and I believe it is quite possible for Russia to play a mediating role," Khoshavi said at a news conference in Moscow.

The head of the Kurdish administration in northern Iraq contacted Russian leaders regarding such a potential role, he noted.

Meanwhile, the Kurdish envoy warned Turkey against any military incursion into Iraq, insisting such aggression would be doomed to failure.

"Turkey has repeatedly attempted to enter the area, but those operations invariably failed," he said of Turkish raids on Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) bases located in northern Iraq.

DT/BGH