Turkey

Prosecutor: Al Qaeda behind July attack on US consulate

Ankara - An armed attack outside the US consulate in Istanbul in July was carried out by members of al-Qaeda, the private Dogan news agency reported on Wednesday.

The claim was made in an indictment released Wednesday in which prosecutor Fikret Secen said he would be seeking jail terms up to 15 years for two people allegedly connected to the shoot-out that left three police officers and the three attackers dead.

Witnesses of the July 9 attack said a car slowed down and stopped outside the main gate of the consulate in the suburb of Istinye. Three men got out of the car and fired at police, starting a firefight that lasted between seven and eight minutes.

Turkish jets hit PKK in northern Iraq for second day running

Ankara - Turkish warplanes hit suspected Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the second bombing run in two days, according to the Turkish military.

According to a short statement on the official website of the General Staff, war planes at around midday bombed suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions in the Kandil region of northern Iraq, near the Iraqi border with Iran.

"After successfully completing their missions, our planes returned safely to their bases," the statement said.

The statement said the only aim of the raids were PKK targets and that precautions were taken not to harm civilians.

Turkish airforce strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq

Turkish airforce strikes against Kurdish militants in Iraq Ankara  - Turkish warplanes bombed suspected positions of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the general army staff in Ankara has reported.

The military statement said that the attacks took place in the Qandil mountains, inside Iraq and near to the Iranian border.

Turkish authorities believe the area to be the main hideout of PKK fighters, who have launched repeated attacks from there against the Turkish military.

More than 5,000 Turks sign up to apologize to Armenia

Turkey FlagAnkara - More than 5,000 Turks have signed up to apologize for the "great catastrophe" during the First World War when hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

The petition on the website www. ozurdiliyoruz. com, initiated by Turkish journalists and academics, is headed by the simple phrase "I apologize."

German woman jailed for support of Turkish left group

Ankara, TurkeyDusseldorf - A female German journalist was given a suspended, 20-month jail term Thursday for supporting a far-left Turkish group that is blamed for terrorist attacks.

Heike S, 43, had originally been accused of membership in the terrorist wing of Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi (DHKP-C), a party seeking a Marxist-Leninist state in Turkey.

The court in Dusseldorf convicted her on the lesser charge of supporting a terrorist group.

The group is accused of firebombing Turkish missions in Germany and beating up renegades and rivals.

Turkey makes little progress towards its EU dream

Ankara - As political distractions go, the court case to close down Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was up there with the biggest.

Ever since the Constitutional Court, in a case called by the party's political opponents, decided in July not to close down the AKP, momentum toward joining the EU seems to have stalled.

In September, the EU issued its progress report on Turkey's membership bid. For supporters of Turkish membership it was depressing reading.

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