Ankara - Six people were injured in a bomb blast Monday at the Istanbul headquarters of

Ankara - Armenian Foreign Minister Edward Nalbandian arrived in Istanbul on Monday where he will hold talks with his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan aimed at normalizing relations between the historic foes, the online edition of Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Speaking to Turkey's English-language Hurriyet Daily News before his visit, Nalbandian said he hoped that Turkey and Armenia would establish normal diplomatic relations and that the border between the two nations be re-opened.

Ankara - Six teenagers who took part in violent protests last month in the predominantly Kurdish-populated city of Diyarbakir face up to 23 years imprisonment each, the Anadolu news agency reported on Thursday.

Prosecutors are seeking the lengthy jail terms for the six 13-to- 14 year-old boys, claiming that they threw rocks and molotov cocktails at police during demonstrations in October to protest a visit to the city by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

Ankara - Four men who kidnapped an Assyrian-Christian priest in south-east Turkey last year were sentenced to 15 years imprisonment on Tuesday by a court in the city of Diyarbakir, the Turkish state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

Father Daniel Savci (56) was taken hostage in November 2007 by the four men who stopped his car as he was travelling to the Mor Yakup Monastery, in a village near the town of Midyat in south-eastern Turkey's Mardin province.

In evidence read to the court, Savci said that he had been handcuffed and a hood was placed over his head when he was kidnapped.

Ankara - More than 12 years after a traffic accident in western Turkey exposed links between the Turkish mafia, police and politicians, the trial of the then interior minister was set to get underway in Ankara on Tuesday, but the court decided that another court should try the case, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Former Interior Minister Mehmet Agar was implicated in ties with Turkish mafia boss Abdullah Catli with prosecutors claiming that Agar had protected Catli, a figure wanted by the police for a number of murders, and had even signed Catli's gun licence.

Ankara - The last surviving Turkish soldier from the Turkish War of Independence died in Istanbul on Tuesday aged 105, the Anadolu news agency reported.