Three Kurdish women, said to include a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), were shot dead overnight Thursday in Paris in what France's interior minister dubbed an "assassination".

Three Kurdish women, said to include a founding member of the outlawed Kurdistan Worker's Party (PKK), were shot dead overnight Thursday in Paris in what France's interior minister dubbed an "assassination".

Turkey has for several days been holding a cargo plane en route from the United Arab Emirates to Iran after its crew refused to document its load, a customs ministry official told AFP on Wednesday.

The Turkish government and jailed Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan have agreed on a roadmap to end a three-decade-old insurgency that has claimed tens of thousands of lives, Turkish media reported Wednesday.

The Turkish army killed 14 rebels from the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) during an operation near the Iraqi border that also left one soldier dead, an official statement said Tuesday.

Algeria and Turkey have decided to renew for 10 years from 2014 an agreement for Algeria to deliver four billion cubic metres of gas annually to Turkey, Energy Minister Youcef Yousfi said on Saturday.

A former Turkish military chief has been released pending trial after authorities detained him for his alleged role in a 1997 coup that forced an Islamic-leaning government from power, local media reported Friday.

Authorities in Turkey have detained a former military chief for his alleged role in a 1997 coup that forced an Islamic-leaning government from power, Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Turkey signed on Thursday an agreement with the United Arab Emirates for the development of coal fields in southern Turkey to generate electricity.

Turkey's former military chief Ismail Hakki Karadayi was arrested on Thursday for his alleged role in a 1997 coup that forced an Islamic-leaning government out of power, Anatolia news agency reported.

A French satirical magazine whose offices were firebombed after it published cartoons mocking the prophet Mohammed on Wednesday published a comic book biography of Islam's founder.

A group of some 20 Syrian soldiers including a general defected from the army Tuesday and fled to Turkey, joining hundreds of other ex-troops from Syria's military, a Turkish diplomat told AFP.

Turkey's intelligence services are in talks with jailed Kurdish leader Abdullah Ocalan for disarming his PKK group in a bid to bring an end to the nearly three-decade old insurgency, officials said Monday.

Turkey's intelligence agency has discussed the issue of disarmament with the jailed Kurdish leader in a bid to bring an end to the nearly three-decade old insurgency, a newspaper reported on Monday.

International envoy Lakhdar Brahimi warned Sunday the Syrian war was worsening "by the day" as he announced a peace plan he believed could find support from world powers, including key Syria ally Russia.

More than 1,000 Syrians crossed into Turkey in the last 24 hours after the Syrian regime attacked a bakery in the town of Halfeya, a Turkish foreign ministry official said on Wednesday.

Asian countries are closer to winning a bid to build Turkey's second nuclear power plant near the Black Sea city of Sinop, the Turkish energy minister said on Tuesday, in a signal that Canada was no longer in the running.

The fall of the Syrian regime is "only a matter of time", Turkey's foreign minister said on Wednesday, calling on other countries to help make the transition period as brief as possible.

China early Wednesday "successfully" launched a Turkish earth observation satellite into orbit aboard a Chinese rocket, according to state media, hailed in Turkey as a "historic moment".

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu urged Tehran on Tuesday to "send a clear message" to Syria's embattled regime to stop the violence against its own people.