PRESS DIGEST - Turkey - Dec 19

ISTANBUL, Dec 19 (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.

HURRIYET

- Some 700 Turkish soldiers enter northern Iraq after U.S. reports that Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) guerrillas were in the border area and were planning to enter Turkey.

SABAH

- The military deals a powerful blow to the PKK after its militants are spotted with thermal cameras and pursued several kilometres within the Iraqi border. The soldiers returned to Turkey during the evening.

YENI SAFAK

- It is not clear who was behind the killing of three Christians in the southeastern city of Malatya as the bloody clothing of the three suspects was all placed into one bag.

ZAMAN

- The leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) is remanded in custody by a military court over charges that he handed in a fake health report in order to evade military service.

MILLIYET

- The central bank criticises the government, saying that it does not want its headquarters to be moved to Istanbul and says that it is uneasy about failing to meet inflation targets in two consecutive years.

CUMHURIYET

- Northern Iraqi Kurdish leader Massoud Barzani protests against the Turkish military operation in northern Iraq by refusing to meet U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her visit to Iraq.

REFERANS

- The general manager of Vakifbank says he is against the bank's privatisation through a public offering. (Writing by Daren Butler)