ANKARA, Turkey, Dec. 5  -- The jailed leader of the terror organization PKK is suing Greece for failing to prevent his capture by Turkish officials in 1999, officials said.

Abdullah Ocalan is seeking $25,500 from the Greek government, alleging that Athens betrayed him after offering assurances of his safety, Hurriyet reported Friday.

Ocalan, who led the Kurdistan Workers' Party, commonly known as PKK, is serving a life sentence in a Turkish prison, the newspaper reported.

Ankara - A Turkish court on Thursday sentenced Leyla Zana, a former parliamentarian and winner of the European Parliament's 1995 Sakharov Peace Prize, to 10 years imprisonment after finding her guilty of belonging to a terrorist group, the Anadolu news agency reported.

The court in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir ruled that a number of speeches she has made in the few years proved that Zana was a member of the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) and had spread "terrorist propaganda".

Ankara - Turkish author Yasar Kemal on Thursday was awarded Turkey's highest cultural honour when he was presented with the state Culture and Arts Prize at a ceremony at the Presidential Palace in Ankara.

The controversial author of Kurdish descent has been a long-time critic of various Turkish policies concerning the Kurdish problem, spending time in police detention for his views and has at times lived in exile.

Ankara - Afghan warlord and former army chief Rashid Dostum has flown to Turkey to live in exile, Vatan newspaper reported on Thursday.

Vatan reported that Dostum, a leader of Afghanistan's Uzbek community whose forces fought both for and against the Taliban, flew to Turkey on a private plane provided by the Turkish government on Tuesday.

Dostum was a key figure in the government of President Hamid Karzai but was removed from his post as Chief of Staff of the Afghan military in February, after allegations that fighters loyal to Dostum had kidnapped a former ally turned rival.

Ankara - Turkish Airlines (THY) has decided to scrap plans to allow passengers to use mobile phones during flights saying that fights could break out between passengers due to a lack of a "culture of talking," Sabah newspaper reported on Tuesday.

"Some passengers speak with loud voices, speaking for a long, long time. The melody sounds and extras could upset other passengers. Problems could occur, fights break out, (or) flights could be put at risk," Sabah quoted an unnamed THY official as saying.