Turkey will continue fighting whatever powers seek to undermine the government, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Sunday as he addressed a massive flag-waving rally in Istanbul in the wake of the country's abortive July 15 coup.

Johnny Turk, he was ready, he primed himself well. 

A man has been arrested after grenades were thrown and a weapon fired at Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office in Istanbul.

Pope Francis has called for an end to all forms of fundamentalism and said fighting hunger and poverty, rather than military intervention alone, were key to stopping Islamist militants carrying out "grave persecutions" in Syria and Iraq.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been sworn in as Turkey’s first popularly elected president, a position that will keep him in the nation’s driving seat for at least another five years.

Hundreds of police have begun moving past barricades in Istanbul’s central Taksim Square, which protesters have been occupying for more than a week.

Michael Collins has been named as Britain’s second greatest enemy commander, outmanoeuvred only by George Washington, in a poll conducted by London’s National Army Museum.

Hopes that Michael Collins will be named Britain’s greatest foe rest on the shoulders of an English-born history lecturer.

Michael Collins has been voted one of Britain’s five greatest foes, after results of an online poll by the National Army Museum in London placed him ahead of celebrated adversaries like Napoleon, Erwin Rommel and George Washington.

TEN people went on trial yesterday accused of organising a sex party on an historic Turkish yacht once owned by the country’s founder.

President Mary McAleese leaves today for a three-day visit to Turkey to mark the deaths of thousands of Irish soldiers in the First World War.

Turkish police detained 52 military commanders for allegedly planning to blow up mosques in order to trigger a military takeover and overthrow the Islamic-oriented government.

Israel’s Defence Minister Ehud Barak met Turkey’s foreign minister today to try to repair ties between the allies that were further strained this week by a diplomatic row in which Israel was forced to apologise for its treatment of the Turkish ambassador.

PROSECUTORS yesterday indicted 86 secular Turks — including high-ranking ex-military officials — on terrorism charges for their alleged involvement in plots to topple the Islamic-rooted government.

Two retired generals were jailed in connection with an alleged plot to topple Turkey’s Islamic-rooted government, the highest-ranking ex-soldiers detained as part of the probe.

Thousands of Turks staged a rally in the Turkish capital Ankara today, accusing the Islamic-rooted government of undermining the country’s secular laws.

Pakistan’s government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of anti-Islamic movies users have posted on the site, an official said.

Pakistan's government has banned access to the video-sharing website YouTube because of movies that the authorities consider 'anti-Islamic', an official said today.

Turkey’s parliament today approved the first of two constitutional amendments that would lift a decades-old ban on Islamic head scarves in universities despite the fierce opposition of the secular establishment.

Some 125,000 flag-waving Turks, mostly women, denounced the Islamic-rooted government today over its plans to lift a decades-old ban on Islamic headscarves in universities – a move the foreign minister said would expand Turkish freedoms.

TURKEY paraded its military muscle yesterday, amid stern warnings from Baghdad that any large-scale Turkish incursion against Kurdish rebel bases in northern Iraq would have “disastrous” results.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown today promised to help Turkey “root out” PKK terrorists launching attacks against the country from bases inside Iraq.

Thousands of Turks gathered today for the funerals of 12 soldiers killed in the weekend’s Kurdish rebel attack.

Turkey’s Islamic-rooted ruling party won parliamentary elections by a big margin tonight in a contest that had pitted the government against opponents warning of a threat to secular traditions.

Polls opened in Turkey today for parliamentary elections that were called early amid a growing rift over the role of Islam in society.

Hundreds of thousands of secular Turks demonstrated on the seafront of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city today, fearful that the Islamic-rooted government is conspiring to impose religious values on society.

The US and European Union have warned Turkey, a Nato member and close ally, to prevent its military from defying civilian leaders in a conflict between the Islamic-rooted government and the secular establishment.

Hundreds of thousands of pro-secular Turks flooded central Istanbul today to demand the resignation of the government, which they fear is leading Turkey toward Islamic rule.

The Turkish military has expressed concern about a disputed presidential election, and indicated that it is willing to become more openly involved in the process.

France's Interior Ministry today defended a new law that makes it illegal for anyone other than professional journalists to film and distribute images of real-world violence.

TURKISH media published photographs yesterday of police posing with a teenager charged with killing an ethnic Armenian journalist. Newspapers denounced the officers for treating the suspect as a “hero”.

Pope Benedict XVI has urged religious leaders of all faiths to “utterly refuse” to support any form of violence in the name of faith, while Turkey’s top Muslim cleric complained to the pontiff of a growing “Islamophobia” in the world.

Pope Benedict XVI began his first visit to a Muslim country today with a message of dialogue and “brotherhood” between faiths and Turkey’s chief Islamic cleric said at a joint appearance that growing “Islamophobia” hurts all Muslims.

HUNDREDS of Turkish nationalists chanting slogans and waving flags protested over the weekend against a controversial academic conference devoted to the WWI massacre of Armenians in Ottoman Turkey.

Kidnappers have released a wealthy Turkish businessman after holding him hostage in Iraq for two months, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said today.