Turkey Live Coverage (5 April): The "Proof" of Terrorism

1645 GMT: Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said during the joint press briefing with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha that Syrian President Bashar Assad's continuing violence is nothing short of his "manouevres of deception" rather than "manouevres of retreat."

In response to Tehran's recent remarks on the venue of nuclear enrichment talks, Erdogan said:

Iran needs to be honest. It is losing credibility because they are not honest. This is not the language of diplomacy. It is the language of something else yet it does not suit to me.

1600 GMT: President Gul continues his speech at the War Academy. Gul says:

This environment of instability taking place in our nighbours is wanted to be turned into a new Cold War stage where regional and global power struggles will occur. 

It is possible that the tension focused on Iran's nuclear programme will lead to a close combar environment. Under these conditions, Turkey has no luxury to watch these developments from a distance.  

1510 GMT: Speaking at the War Academy, President Abdullah Gul welcomed Turkey's "virtuous power":

In the present day, one can neither speak about security without democracy, nor a real democracy without security. Hence, democracy is both the most effective way to fight terrorism and our most valuable merit that we should jealously preserve.

It is very important to separate our citizens who voice their demands within the democratic system without resorting to violence from those who are tied to terrorism.

I believe that Turkey should act as a ‘virtuous power.’ A ‘virtuous power’ cares not only about the military/political dimension of security, but also justice and human values side.

1420 GMT: The head of human rights sub-committee of the Parliament and Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s MP Ihsan Sener criticized Turkish Armed Forces (TSK)'s report on the Uludere massacre (the killing of 34 civilians by jets in December 2011).

Sener quoted the official report saying that the operation was in line with international law yet he added that he was not satisfied at all. 

1300: Alaeddin Boroujerdi, the head of Parliament's National Security Committee, declared that "Iranian officials are not interested in Turkey as the host" (Please see The Latest from Iran - 1252 GMT, for more details).

Boroujerdi continued: "Taking into account the extremist and illogical position of Turkey on Syria... Turkey has de facto lost any competence to host the meeting."

1245 GMT: Turkish Foreign Ministry sources were quoted as saying that Turkey has not been asked to contribute troops to a UN mission to monitor a cease-fire between the Syrian army and opposition forces.

1230 GMT: In an explosion in a shipyard in İstanbul's Tuzla district, two workers died and two others injured. 

1100 GMT: The 2400-page indictment of the KCK (Union of Communities in Kurdistan), accepted by the court this week, claimed "proof" of "armed terrorist organisation membership", "making propaganda for a terrorist organisation", and "administering a terrorist organisation".

For instance, Derya Arslan is one of those accused of being "a member of a terrorist organisation".  The proof is "the history of women's lectures, attending Quantum Physics lectures, asking her friends whether 'they are coming to the [Politics] Academy', inviting someone to a press briefing, being invited to a panel organised by the Peace and Demicracy Party (BDP), and keeping a bandana on which 'Democratic Free Women Movement' was written and two knitting yarns (red and yellow in colour) at her home".

Proof for Cihan Deniz Zarakolu, who is said to be an administrator of the organisation, includes his lectures on the evolution of the universe, Darwinism and the history of mankind at the Political Academy. 

1000 GMT: Between 800 and 900 Syrian refugees fled to Turkey from Syria in the past 24 hours, a Turkish official said on Thursday. The total number of Syrian refugees staying in Turkey has reached 21,000.

0930 GMT: One of the two pipelines bringing crude from Iraq's Kirkuk oilfield to Turkey's Ceyhan port is in flames after an explosion, stopping the oil flow.

The cause is still undetermined.

The pipelines carry a quarter of Iraq's crude exports.