Turkey's government has withdrawn a controversial proposal that critics said would have allowed men accused of sexually abusing under-age girls to go free if they were married to their victims.

Update 10.36am: A bomb attack on an outdoor wedding party in south-eastern Turkey that killed 50 people and wounded dozens of others was the work of the so-called ‘Islamic State’ group, the country's president said.

A string of bombings, blamed on Kurdish rebels and targeting Turkey’s security forces, killed at least 11 people and wounded 226 others.

Turkish special forces captured a group of rebel commandos who tried to seize or kill President Tayyip Erdogan during a failed coup, and a government minister said plotters would “never see God’s sun as long as they breathe”.

Warplanes are patrolling Turkey's skies days following the failed coup, in a sign that authorities fear the threat against the government is not yet over.

Around 1,800 special forces police officers have arrived in Istanbul as Turkey reels from the failed coup attempt that plunged the city and the capital Ankara into a night of violence.

Update - 7.45pm: Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called on the United States to extradite a Muslim cleric he accuses of being behind Turkey's failed coup attempt.

The death toll from the Istanbul airport suicide attack has risen to 42.

The German parliament has voted to label the killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago as genocide, prompting Turkey to recall its ambassador to Germany.

Turkey has opened a railway tunnel linking Europe and Asia, realising a plan initially proposed by an Ottoman sultan 150 years ago.

Turkish authorities are investigating people who allegedly insulted state officials or incited riots on social media, the deputy prime minister has said in a sign the government is intent on meting out punishment over the massive protests that have swept the country.

Up to five gunmen identifying themselves as members of a Kurdish rebel group have hijacked a ferry with 19 passengers on board, a Turkish government minister said.

THE chiefs of staff of Turkey’s military stepped down yesterday as tensions dramatically increased over the arrest of dozens of officers accused of plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government.

A Turkish Airlines jetliner plummeted out of the mist and ploughed into a muddy field near Amsterdam's main airport, but most people on board - 125 people - survived. The nine dead included both pilots.

The director of Amsterdam airport has said that nine peope have died after a Turkish airliner carrying up to 145 people crashed and broke up on approach to the airport today.

A Turkish man hijacked a jet carrying 113 people from Albania to Istanbul today and forced the aircraft to land in Italy, where he surrendered and released all the passengers unharmed.

Three crew members of a derailed express train that killed 37 people in Turkey have been charged.

The Turkish government was under fire today for ignoring warnings about a new express train that derailed in northwestern Turkey killing 36 people and injuring 81 in one of the country’s worst train disasters.

A Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul with more than 200 people on board was hijacked tonight and diverted to Greece by a lone man who wanted to fly on to Berlin.