Ankara - Prosecutors on Wednesday launched an investigation into a speech made by the leader of the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) in which he attacked the government's policy regarding the Kurdish issue, the Anadolu news agency reported.

"The policy of denial, assimilation and eradication has affected people. Only the Kurds resisted. They still resist," DTP leader Ahmet Turk told supporters in the south-eastern city of Diyarbakir.

The speech came after days of protests in south-eastern cities where Kurds angry at reports that Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) leader Abdullah Ocalan had been mistreated in prison have held running battles with police.

Ankara - The trial of 86 people accused of plotting to create havoc in order to prepare the ground for a military coup got under way in Istanbul on Monday.

The long-awaited trial of the so-called Ergenekon gang began some 17 months after police discovered hand grenades in an Istanbul house belonging to a former non-commissioned officer.

An investigation found that the grenades were from the same batch that was used in an attack on the Istanbul offices of Cumhuriyet newspaper in 2006.

Ankara - Turkish warplanes on Friday bombed suspected Kurdish separatist positions in the Kandil mountains of northern Iraq, near the Iraqi border with Iran, the Turkish military announced.

"Our planes returned safely to their bases after successfully completing their missions during Friday's daylight hours," the General Staff said in a short statement on its official website.

The statement said that the target of operations were Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions and that necessary precautions were taken to avoid harming civilians in the area.

Ankara - The Turkish military on Friday said 35 Kurdish separatists had been killed in clashes this week on Mount Cudi in the southeastern province of Sirnak.

A General Staff spokesman told reporters that the number of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) deaths was learnt through intercepted PKK communications.

Recent weeks have seen an increase in the number and intensity of PKK attacks on Turkish military targets. Five Turkish soldiers and five PKK rebels were killed late Wednesday in clashes in the province of Hakkari.

On October 3, 17 soldiers were killed in a PKK attack on a military border post and in response Turkey has staged almost daily aerial bombardments of suspected PKK positions inside northern Iraq.

Ankara - Ten Turkish soldiers and 10 Kurdish separatists were killed Wednesday night during separate clashes in south-east Turkey, the General Staff announced on Thursday.

Four soldiers were killed in the province of Kavakli district of Hakkari province when their vehicle came under fire from separatists from the Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK), the General Staff said in a short statement posted on its official website.

Frankfurt - Turks living in Germany could barely contain their excitement as both their presidents - Abdullah Gul of Turkey and Horst Koehler of Germany - together admired an exhibition about 20th-century Turkish literature.

Turkey was guest of honour this week at the Frankfurt Book Fair, and many who have felt for so long like an underclass in their adopted home, Germany, were deeply moved at this homage to the best writing in the Turkish language.