Ankara  - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari on Friday refused to deny reports that the attacks in the Indian city of Mumbai were carried out by people operating from Pakistan.

"Pakistan has always discouraged, and our position that we are the victims of terrorism. Pakistan is currently doing its own internal investigation and it is waiting for concrete proof," Zardari said.

Asked whether Pakistan would change its own approach to combatting terrorism in the wake of the Mumbai attacks, Zardari said his government's focus would remain on fighting terrorists.

Ankara - Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and his Afghanistan counterpart Harmid Karzai were in Istanbul Friday for a summit to discuss ways to improve regional security.

The two leaders are expected to concentrate on tensions over Pakistan's north-western tribal regions, which have become a base and recruiting ground for hardline Taliban fighters bent on overthrowing the Afghanistan government.

Discussions are also expected on preventing drug smuggling and organized crime.

Friday's meeting was the second summit between the leaders of the neighbouring countries, with Karzai holding talks in April last year with then Pakistani president Pervez Musharraf.

ANKARA, Turkey, Dec. 4  -- A Turkish prosecutor says the United States should identify the individuals responsible for certain questionable YouTube videos.

Ankara public prosecutor Kursat Kayral has asked U. S. officials to identify whoever

posted videos on the video-sharing Web site that offered derogatory views of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of the Republic of Turkey, Hurriyet said Thursday.

Kayral said the videos not only insult Ataturk, but also Turkey and its flag. He has asked U. S. officials to hand over the identities of the responsible individuals once they are determined.

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.