Ankara, Turkey ? Parliament voted overwhelmingly Tuesday to give the government permission to send Turkish peacekeepers to Iraq, but members of Iraq’s interim council opposed the move, a sign of the problems Washington faces as it tries to assemble a peacekeeping force.

The United States has been pressing Turkey for months to send what would be the first major Muslim contingent of peacekeepers, a deployment that would enhance the credibility of the American-led force in Iraq by demonstrating Muslim support.

Turkey’s parliament voted 358-183 to allow the government to dispatch troops, a move top officials said would improve ties with Washington and help give Turkey a say in the future of Iraq.

“An Iraq that is in peace, that is on good terms with its neighbors, an Iraq that is stable is in Turkey’s interests,” Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul said.

The motion gives the government the power to send troops, but provides no details as to when, where or how many soldiers would be deployed. Those matters are expected to be worked out in talks with Washington that could take weeks.

“The decision that came out of parliament is not one that will be executed immediately, this instant,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. “Time will decide. The process will depend on developments.”

The 15-member U.S.-appointed Governing Council of Iraq met about the same time as the Turkish parliament.

“After long deliberations we reached consensus on issuing a statement opposing the arrival of Turkish troops,” said Mahmoud Othman, a Kurd on the council. “The council already has said it does not want other foreign troops in the country.”

He said, however, that the release of the statement was delayed for a time Tuesday, apparently due to pressure from the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority. The council is likely to defer to the United States on issues involving security.

The Turkish Ottoman Empire ruled today’s Iraq for about 400 years until World War I. For some 15 years, Turkey fought Turkish Kurdish rebels who now have bases in the Kurdish areas of northern Iraq, a fight that killed 37,000 people.

Turkey fears that Kurds living in an autonomous area of northern Iraq could declare independence, which might provoke Turkish Kurdish rebels.