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Germany warned Turkey Friday of the "risk of destabilisation" following its military incursion into Iraqi Kurdistan and said it must act within international law.
German government spokesman Martine Jaeger said that Berlin was watching developments with "a great deal of anxiety."
"In all events, respect for international law must be the criteria for any action," he told a press briefing in the German capital.
"We call on the Turkish government, in its fight against terrorism, to restrict itself to measures which, in the last resource, are necessary for the protection of the Turkish population, and we warn against an additional worsening of the situation."
The presence of Turkish troops in northern Iraq "represents a not inconsiderable risk of destabilisation and our embassy in Ankara is trying to make contact with the secretary general of the (Turkish) national security council to have clearer information," he added.
The Turkish army said earlier that its forces entered Kurdistan region 'northern Iraq' to hunt Turkish-Kurdish PKK separatist rebels after airstrikes and shelling struck at their bases.
Some 10,000 troops were reported to have penetrated 10 kilometers (six miles) into the autonomous Kurdistan in northern Iraq.
Over 39,000 Turkish soldiers and Kurdish PKK guerrillas have been killed since 1984 when the PKK took up arms for self-rule in the country's mainly Kurdish southeast of Turkey. A large Turkey's Kurdish community openly sympathise with the Kurdish PKK rebels.
The PKK demanded Turkey's recognition of the Kurds' identity in its constitution and of their language as a native language along with Turkish in the country's Kurdish areas, the party also demanded an end to ethnic discrimination in Turkish laws and constitution against Kurds, ranting them full political freedoms.
The PKK is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S. and the EU.