Ankara - The Turkish government is to seek parliamentary approval for a year-long extension to a mandate that allows the Turkish military to launch operations in northern Iraq against rebels from the separatists Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
The cabinet formally presented a motion to parliament on Monday that would extend until October 2009 a broad remit for the army to launch military operations, CNN-Turk television reported. The current mandate ends on October 17.
Ankara - One person was reported dead and more than 20 people were missing after a ferry sunk in the Marmara Sea late Sunday, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Coast Guard vessels were joined by local fishing boats in an attempt to rescue the more 100 people on board the ferry. As of early Monday, 72 people had been rescued or were able swim to shore.
Ankara- Turkish prosecutors may open their own inquiry into a scandal currently before a German court where an Islamic charity allegedly siphoned off donations, Hurriyet newspaper reported on Thursday.
There have been claims in Turkey that the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was a beneficiary of the alleged scam.
Three former operators of the Deniz Feneri Foundation admitted to a court Frankfurt this month that they embezzled donations from devout Turks living in western Europe.
Ankara - Turkish President Abdullah Gul left Ankara Saturday for an historic visit to Armenia in a trip that commentators have marked as a thaw in relations between the inimical neighbours.
Gul's day trip to Yerevan where he will meet his Armenian counterpart Serge Sarkisian and then attend a Armenia-Turkey World Cup qualifying match is the first visit by a Turkish head of state to Armenia since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Ankara - Turkish President Abdullah Gul Tuesday pardoned Islamist former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, 81, who was under house arrest for embezzlement.
Gul's office said in Ankara the decision had been taken on grounds of Erbakan's ill-health.
Erbakan was placed under house arrest in May after a court ruled that his Islamist Refah Welfare Party, which was banned in 1998, had misused funds.
Turkey's military pushed Erbakan out of office in 1997 ahead of a coup in 1980.
Ankara - The Turkish government is to seek parliamentary approval for a year-long extension to a mandate that allows the Turkish military to launch operations in northern Iraq against rebels from the separatists Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK).
Ankara - One person was reported dead and more than 20 people were missing after a ferry sunk in the Marmara Sea late Sunday, the Anadolu news agency reported.
Ankara - Turkish President Abdullah Gul Tuesday pardoned Islamist former prime minister Necmettin Erbakan, 81, who was under house arrest for embezzlement.
