TEHRAN -- Iraqi opposition groups are to meet soon in Erbil, Iraqi Kurdistan, to plan for the eventual overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, an Iraqi Kurdish leader was quoted as saying Tuesday.

Jalal Talabani, head of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK), who arrived on a visit to Iran late Monday, predicted that a U.S. attack on Iraq was certain if Saddam did not give up power voluntarily, Iran's IRNA news agency said. "We have made two proposals to Saddam Hussein to avoid a war," he added. Saddam Hussein must "abandon dictatorship" and accept "the formation of a coalition government with the organization of free elections and the establishment of a new parliament to draw up a new constitution."

Talabani said opposition groups had rejected a proposal by Turkey to host their meetings, and he rejected any cooperation with Ankara to allow its army to enter Iraq.

Turkish newspapers reported Tuesday that Ankara wanted to send 20,000 soldiers backed by armored vehicles into northern Iraq to ensure the security of its border region in the event of a war.

Turkey already has up to 2,000 soldiers in northern Iraq where they were originally deployed to keep on eye on rebel Turkish Kurds from the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Iraqi opposition groups, including the PUK, meeting in London last month agreed to set up a 75-member committee to act as their interface with the international community.

It plans to meet "around mid-January" in the Kurdish-controlled north of Iraq, to set up sub-committees, including executive and diplomatic.

Talabani, whose PUK shares power in Iraqi Kurdistan with Massud Barzani's Democratic Party of Kurdistan (DPK) independently of Baghdad, had talks Tuesday with the speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mahdi Karrubi.