Turkey

He said Brett McGurk, the US envoy to the coalition against so-called Islamic State, was "definitely" supporting the YPG in Syria and the separatist PKK.

The minister was in Washington with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who met US President Donald Trump.

Tensions were high after Mr Trump said he would arm the Syrian Kurds.

Russia's plan for "de-escalation" zones was backed by Iran at talks in Kazakhstan. Both countries support Syrian president Bashar al-Assad.

Turkey, which supports rebel groups, also agreed to act as a guarantor.

But some delegates from the rebel forces angrily rejected the plan.

As the three countries were invited to sign the document on Thursday in the Kazakh capital, Astana, rebel delegates angrily shouted that they did not accept it and walked out.

Turkey’s Religious Affairs Directorate (Diyanet) translated the Qurans into Samoan and shipped them to the Pacific island, which has a population of 193,200, including 130 Muslims.

Samoa Muslims Union Representative Mohommad Irfan Ahmed asked the Diyanet to help the Turkish organisation provide Samoa with the Muslim holy book at the First Summit of the Religious Leaders of the Asia-Pacific Countries in October 2015.

The initiative was undertaken by Turkey’s General Directorate of Religious Publications and the General Directorate of Foreign Affairs. 

Articles and comments on the popular online encyclopedia showed Turkey "in coordination and aligned" with terrorist groups, the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications said.

"It has become part of an information source which is running a smear campaign against Turkey in the international arena," the ministry said.

Turkey warned Wikipedia to remove such content, but the nonprofit encyclopedia refused, the government said.

Once Wikipedia meets Turkey's demands, the access ban will be lifted, it said.

Russia confirmed earlier that the hull of the Liman, part of its Black Sea Fleet, had sustained a breach, with crew working to keep it afloat.

It is not yet clear what caused the collision.

The ship hit a Togo-flagged boat carrying livestock, Turkish media say.

Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim called his Russian counterpart, Dmitry Medvedev, to express his sadness over the collision, sources in the Turkish prime minister's office were quoted by Reuters news agency as saying.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) has questioned the legitimacy of the close result, citing irregularities in the electoral process.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's push for an executive presidency succeeded with just over 51% of the vote.

The win was met with both celebrations and protests across Turkey.

The CHP is refusing to accept the Yes victory and is demanding a recount of 60% of the votes, criticising a decision to pass unstamped ballot papers as valid unless proven otherwise.

But Sigmar Gabriel also emphasised his wish to return to "friendly relations".

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused Germany of "Nazi practices" because of the cancellation of rallies involving Turkish ministers.

He is seeking new constitutional powers in a 16 April referendum.

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu repeated the Nazi comparison on a visit to Hamburg aimed at drumming up support among some of the 1.4m Turkish voters who live in Germany.

The military is the last Turkish institution to see the ban removed. It has long been seen as the guardian of Turkey's secular constitution.

Wearing headscarves in public institutions was banned in the 1980s.

But Turkey's Islamist-leaning President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, argues that the ban is an illiberal vestige of the past.

The issue has been controversial in Turkey for many years.

Bana Alabed, who posted to more than 300,000 followers from the warzone with the help of her mother Fatemah, fled the city with her family after an evacuation deal was brokered by Russia — the main supporter of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad — and Turkey, which backs some large rebel groups.

Under a legislative decree published Saturday, Turkish authorities fired more than 10,000 public servants for alleged ties to the movement affiliated with exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen, and shut down 15 Kurdish media companies for alleged ties to militant Kurdish groups, state-run news agency Anadolu reported.

The new decree "made it easier to sack public officials believed to be members of terrorist organizations or groups involved in activities against the country's national security," Anadolu reported.