ANKARA, Turkey (AP) -- Turkish leaders on Tuesday raised the threat of political and economic sanctions against neighboring Iraq unless that country curbs ethnic Kurd separatists staging attacks across the border.

A statement issued after a four-hour National Security Council meeting said Turkey would closely watch Iraq's response to a Turkish request for urgent measures against Kurdish guerrillas based in northern Iraq.

"Political, economic and other approaches to be considered were evaluated," the statement said.

It did not elaborate on the measures discussed, but many Turks have called for the government to close the border crossing to northern Iraq, which is an important route for food and other goods reaching Iraqi Kurds.

The council's announcement came after clashes between Turkish troops and Kurdish guerrillas killed nearly 20 people, including at least a dozen soldiers, since Saturday.

Turkey, a NATO member, has long been pressing Iraq and the U.S. to stop raids into Turkey's heavily Kurdish southeastern region and to capture and extradite leaders of the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party, or PKK, which is regarded as a terrorist group by Washington.

On Monday, Turkey handed a protest note to the Iraqi ambassador demanding immediate action against the PKK.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan issued the demand in reaction to comments by Massoud Barzani, leader of the Kurdish autonomous region in Iraq, who said Iraqi Kurds would retaliate for any Turkish interference in northern Iraq by stirring up trouble in Turkey's southeast.

Barzani said Tuesday the remarks came in a television interview in late February and were being taken out of context. He said they were made at a time when Turkey was urging Iraq to delay a vote on whether the northern Iraqi oil city of Kirkuk should be put in the Kurdish autonomous region.

"My comments were in response to Turkish threats," Barzani said during a speech in the northern Iraqi city of Irbil on Tuesday.

Barzani's broadcast remarks struck a sensitive nerve in Turkey, where more than 37,000 people have been killed in fighting between Kurds and Turkish security forces since 1984, most of them in the southeastern region bordering Iraq.

Turkish leaders worry that Barzani's bid to incorporate Kirkuk into the Kurdish region could be an initial step toward seeking independence from Iraq, fearing that would further incite Kurdish separatists in Turkey.

By Suzan Fraser