ANKARA -- Turkish legislators were set to vote Saturday on allowing U.S. forces to deploy in the country, following days of foot-dragging that has threatened to hamper U.S. plans to invade Iraq from the north.

Under cross-fire from an exasperated Washington and a public opinion firmly against war, the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was to convene its MPs ahead of the session in a last-ditch effort to cajole them into backing the deployment of 62,000 U.S. troops on Turkish soil.

The outcome of the vote will be crucial for the sole Muslim member of NATO, which is mired in a severe economic crisis and fears that its worst security nightmare -- an independent Kurdish state -- could come true in Northern Iraq if a war breaks out.

Denying support to the United States would deprive Turkey of vital U.S. financial assistance and the chance to set up a security buffer zone in Kurdish-held Northern Iraq.

"What matters is to emerge with minimum damage from this affair," AKP leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.

Anti-war sentiment is running high in the AKP, but the leadership of the Islamist-rooted party is expected to ensure that its MPs toe the government line.

Erdogan summarized bluntly what was at stake if the Parliament denied U.S. troops access to its territory.

"Turkey cannot enter Northern Iraq, secondly you cannot have a say in the decision-making (in post-war Iraq), and thirdly the world financial circles, under American pressure and control, will take a stance against us," he said in an interview with CNN Turk television this week.

"The debt Turkey has to pay this year is 73.5 billion dollars," he added.

Since early February, Ankara and Washington have been involved in painstaking -- and often tense -- negotiations over the terms of economic, military and political cooperation in the event of a war in Iraq.

The two NATO allies have yet to seal a deal.

Bitter over uncompensated trade losses in the wake of the 1991 Persian Gulf War, Turkey is seeking multi-billion-dollar aid to offset the damage a new conflict might inflict on its ailing economy, which is already in IMF clutches.

Washington has offered Ankara a grant of six billion dollars, part of which could be used to obtain commercial loans of up to 30 billion dollars.

Turkey is also seeking a pledge that the Kurds in Northern Iraq -- beyond Saddam Hussein's control since 1991 -- will not be allowed to break away from Baghdad, a prospect that could encourage separatism among its own Kurds.

Discussions over any role for the Turkish army in Northern Iraq have prompted stern objections from the Iraqi Kurds, whose support would also be crucial for Washington in its quest to oust the Baghdad regime.

The government decision to back the U.S. has sparked divisions in Ankara on whether admitting U.S. forces without a UN authorization of military action against Iraq would breach the Turkish constitution, which seeks international legitimacy for the deployment of foreign troops in the country. The cabinet motion calls on Parliament to approve "the temporary deployment in Turkey ... of a maximum of 62,000 military personnel and air elements of no more than 255 planes and 65 helicopters for a period of six months."

It also seeks permission to send Turkish troops to Northern Iraq.

A simple majority in the 550-seat Parliament is enough to adopt the motion. The AKP has over 350 seats. Tens of thousands of anti-war protestors were expected to march in Ankara before legislators convene for the critical session at 1200 GMT. (AFP)