Ankara - Thirty suspected members of an extremist Islamist group were arrested Wednesday evening in raids on several houses in the central Anatolian city of Eskisehir, Dogan news agency reported on Thursday.
Riot police closed off streets in a number of suburbs in the city and made simultaneous raids taking 34 people into custody. Four were later released without charge.
Those arrested were suspected of belonging to the extremist Hizb ut-Tahrir, an international pan-Islamist group which aims restore the caliphate.
Ankara - The separatist Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) on Monday announced a unilateral ceasefire to last until June 1, the PKK-linked Firat news agency reported. A statement released by PKK political commanders in Iraq, said that the time was ripe for a political solution to the Kurdish problem in Turkey, noting that the pro-Kurdish Democratic Society Party (DTP) had done extremely well in local elections on March 29. 
Ankara - At least 14 people were taken into custody Monday in the latest wave of arrests connected to a shadowy nationalist gang that prosecutors claim was conspiring to overthrow Turkey's moderate Islamic government, Turkish media reported. Monday's arrests focused on academics and members of private foundations who prosecutors suspect are connected to the so-called Ergenekon gang which allegedly had links to various murders in the past.
Ankara - Eleven people have died in Turkey the last three weeks after drinking illegally-produced spirits, the Agriculture Ministry said Saturday. In a statement the ministry added that it was stepping up measures to stop bootleg spirits entering the market.
Ankara - Two Turkish soldiers were killed Friday night in a clash with Kurdish separatists in south-east Turkey. The soldiers were killed when a group of Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) opened fire on soldiers on patrol in a mountainous area near the town of Sirnak, according to a short statement posted on the website of the Turkish General Staff.
