Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said May 7 that no excuse could justify Israeli airstrikes on Syria, AFP reported.

Turkish police fired tear gas and water cannons to disperse demonstrators gathered in central Istanbul on May Day, Reuters reported May 1.

Kurdish militant group the Kurdistan Workers' Party, commonly known as the PKK, will start withdrawing from Turkey in early May, a senior PKK leader said, Hurriyet reported April 25.

Nine people were taken hostage by the Taliban on April 21 when a helicopter owned by an Afghan company made an emergency landing in a Taliban-controlled area of eastern Afghanistan's Logar province, officials said April 22, AFP reported.

Diplomats from 11 countries met in Istanbul on April 20 to discuss the Syrian crisis, Xinhua reported.

A full restoration Turkey-Israel ties, including the return of a Turkish ambassador to Israel, will not occur until the blockade on the Gaza Strip is lifted, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, Xinhua reported April 14, citing Today's Zaman.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will probably visit the Gaza Strip after his trip to Washington to meet U.S. President Barack Obama on May 16, Hurriyet Daily News reported April 10.

Israel has told Turkey it is willing to build a natural gas pipeline with a capacity of 15 billion to 16 billion cubic meters through Turkish territory to export Israeli gas to world markets, Trend and the Sabah newspaper reported April 2.

Turkish authorities have deported at least 600 Syrian refugees from a camp near the border after clashes with Turkish military police during a protest over living conditions, a Turkish official said March 28, Reuters reported.