Turkey's electoral commission has banned the campaign song of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AFP) for November's general election as too religious, a senior member of the Islamic-rooted party said Wednesday.

Bekir Bozdag, one of the AKP's deputy leaders, said the commission had ruled that the song, "Haydi Bismillah" (Let's Go, In The Name Of God), contravened Turkey's electoral law by exploiting a religious symbol for political purposes.

Turkey's prime minister urged voters Monday to back the ruling party in November polls "so that peace returns to Turkey", where the army is engaged in a bloody battle with Kurdish militants.

Ahmet Davutoglu sought to rally the faithful at a mass gathering of the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Ankara with a rousing speech to present the party's candidates in snap November 1 polls.

Turkish prosecutors are seeking a prison sentence of up to 34 years for an influential cleric accused of terrorism for allegedly conspiring against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, state media said Thursday. 

Preacher Fethullah Gulen, a former ally of Erdogan turned arch-foe and living in exile in the United States, is charged with "forming and running a terrorist organization," as well as  "forging official documents" and "libel", the official Anatolia news agency reported.

Turkish police on Wednesday arrested 11 people, including a senior business leader, as part of a crackdown on followers of an influential U.S.-based cleric accused of plotting against President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported.

The arrests took place in the central city of Kayseri, where police raided a university that has been linked to Fethullah Gulen, Dogan press agency reported.

Turkish police on Monday raided an Istanbul-based news magazine after it featured on its cover a photomontage portraying President Recep Tayyip Erdogan taking a selfie at a soldier's funeral, its editor said. 

Counter-terrorism police arrived at the magazine's headquarters in the Okmeydani district of Istanbul after midnight but left after finding the building empty. 

A Turkish court on Friday handed a suspended prison sentence of 11 months and 20 days to a 17-year-old schoolboy convicted of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in a case that raised new concerns about freedom of speech in the country.

The boy, identified as M.E.A., was convicted of "insulting the president" while speaking at a public meeting in the central city of Konya in December 2014.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed not to abandon the country to "terrorists" after deadly attacks by the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK). 

"We did not and will not abandon the nation's future to three or five terrorists," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, after 30 Turkish soldiers and police were killed in two separate attacks carried out by the Kurdish militants over the last three days.

Supporters of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) on Sunday stormed the headquarters of the Hurriyet newspaper in Istanbul after accusing the daily of misquoting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the publication said.

A group of 150 people chanting slogans supporting the AKP pelted the offices of Hurriyet in Istanbul's Bagcilar district with rocks, knocking out windows and the front door. 

Turkish police on Tuesday staged a major swoop on the Ankara-based offices of a media group critical of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, a day after two British reporters were jailed on hugely controversial terror charges.

The raids on Koza-Ipek Media sparked fresh concern about deteriorating press freedoms in Turkey, which is gearing up for a snap November legislative election, its second in five months.

A court in Turkey's Kurdish-dominated southeast Monday remanded in custody on terror charges two British journalists working for U.S.-based media outlet Vice News, in a case that has sparked fresh concern about press freedoms.

Vice News condemned the charges as "baseless" and an attempt to censor coverage, while leading rights groups have called for the immediate release of the reporters.