As Turkey and Iraq step up their diplomatic efforts to stop cross-border attacks by Kurdish PKK fighters, Turkish papers present a sombre assessment of the situation.

Some commentators fear that war is almost unavoidable and warn that this could easily escalate out of control.

Other papers plead for a political initiative, with one arguing that military force will do nothing to correct "the climate that feeds the PKK".

This is not a cross-border operation anymore. Turkey moving into northern Iraq is a war. It is a war whose end is not known and which can develop far beyond the plans on paper. You might get into northern Iraq talking about the PKK, but it may turn into a war between Turkey and northern Iraq, or even between Turkey and Iraq.

It seems that a military operation is inevitable. Ankara may wait for a couple more days, but that's all... If there is no concrete result soon, nobody will be able to stop Turkey.

The PKK is forcing Turkey to get into northern Iraq. The ideal thing for them is for Turkey to attempt a broad invasion. Imagine what the PKK can gain from a force of 30-35,000 going into northern Iraq and staying there: Turkey's relations with the US will be broken in a way that cannot be fixed easily. Turkey-EU relations will be severely damaged. Turkey will come under pressure from Arab countries. And the PKK will have the opportunity to provoke the people of south-east Turkey.

The very great Republic of Turkey is weak and helpless before the two northern Iraqi tribal leaders, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani and Kurdish regional government leader Masud Barzani, and the PKK looters who are fed by them.

Turkey gives the impression that it has not yet learned that it cannot achieve a result against a terrorist organisation based in northern Iraq without making any efforts to co-operate with the northern Iraqi authority.

Turkey can launch an operation, but it is not possible to achieve a strong outcome with this operation in order to solve the problem in the region. We will see that when we experience it. Turkey can strike blows at the PKK. That's possible, but the climate that feeds the PKK is still there. The essential thing is to correct this climate.

The policies of threatening the Iraqi Kurdish leaders and humiliating them are bankrupt. It is in our national interest to improve our relations with both Jalal Talabani and Masud Barzani. The real threat against Turkey is not the Iraqi Kurds achieving broad autonomy or independence, but all Kurds being forced to unite against Turkey.

BBC Monitoring selects and translates news from radio, television, press, news agencies and the internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages. It is based in Caversham, UK, and has several bureaux abroad.