Turkey on Monday signed a long-awaited deal with the European Union to repatriate those who enter the bloc illegally from its territory, in exchange for talks on visa-free travel for its citizens.

The EU has committed to ensuring visa-free travel for Turkish citizens in 2017 at the earliest in return for Turkey signing the agreement.

Turkey on Saturday renamed a tiny island south of Istanbul which has for decades represented a powerful symbol in a country torn between secularism and Islamic traditions.

On Yassiada, now "Democracy and Freedom Island", prime minister Adnan Menderes, his foreign minister Fatin Rustu Zorlu and finance minister Hasan Polatkan went on trial before being hanged by the military junta after a 1960 coup.

A Turkish newspaper said Monday it plans to sue Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a "treason" row that has highlighted political tensions in the country.

The government lodged a criminal complaint against the liberal Taraf newspaper last month after it revealed documents purporting to detail secret plans by the Turkish strongman to eliminate a powerful religious movement.

The mayor of Istanbul, the target of protester anger during June's mass anti-government street demonstrations, will be running for office again next year, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Thursday.

Kadir Topbas, a member of Erdogan's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), has been nominated to stand for a third term in Turkey's municipal elections next March.

Turkey's popularity in the Middle East has dropped sharply over the past two years, an opinion poll showed Wednesday, reflecting Ankara's sometimes controversial foreign policy strategy.

The biggest decline was registered in Egypt and war-ravaged Syria, where Turkey is strongly opposed to those in power, according to the poll by an Istanbul-based think-tank.

A Turkish court on Monday withdrew from the highly-charged trial of a riot policeman accused of killing a protester during mass street demonstrations this year because of concerns over its impartiality.

As riot police looked on, hundreds of people staged a rally outside the main courthouse in Ankara for the latest hearing in the case against an officer identified only as Ahmet S.

The Iranian ambassador to Ankara acknowledged Friday that Tehran enjoys close ties with Turkey's intelligence services, a sign of warming relations between the two regional powers.

The comments by Alireza Bikdeli come just weeks after U.S. newspaper claims -- hotly denied by Ankara -- that Turkey blew an Israeli-Iranian spy ring to the authorities in Tehran.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday defended his latest tirade against the military rulers of Egypt which sparked a new diplomatic row between Ankara and Cairo.

"We will not stop saying what is right and standing by the Egyptian people just because the coup-installed government in Egypt is disturbed," Erdogan said in parliament.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday his government would never respect military-installed rulers, in remarks made after Egypt's expulsion of Ankara's ambassador.

"I will never respect those who come to power after coups," Erdogan told reporters.

Turkish authorities on Saturday released without charge a man who was carrying a fake bomb outside the prime minister's office, local media reported.

The man identified as Tugrul Bayir and previously described by officials as "mentally unstable" was freed after questioning as he has no prior criminal record, the private NTV television network said.