The Turkish authorities were moving hundreds of Syrian refugees Thursday from the southern city of Gaziantep to camps, after three nights of violent protests by locals angered by their presence, reports said.

Tensions between Turkish residents and Syrian refugees in Gaziantep have flared in recent days since the murder of a Turkish landlord allegedly stabbed to death by his Syrian tenant.

Turkish women took to social networks on Wednesday to post pictures of shoes in a new viral campaign against sexism inspired by a female deputy's incendiary speech in parliament.

Turkish opposition MP Aylin Nazliaka had launched a withering denunciation of gender discrimination in Turkey, during which she became so incensed she threatened to throw one of her high-heeled shoes at her fellow deputies.

A coalition of activists said on Tuesday they would send a flotilla of ships to break Israel's siege of Gaza by the end of 2014, fours years after a similar campaign ended in a deadly raid by Israeli commandos.

"We plan to send the flotilla during 2014," the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, which includes activists from at least 10 countries, said in Istanbul.

Prime Minister Tammam Salam revealed on Tuesday that he recently contacted Qatari and Turkish authorities to help Lebanon guarantee the safe release of the security personnel taken hostage by Islamist gunmen in the northeastern town of Arsal.

“Speaker Nabih Berri and I seem to have confluence on contacting Qatari and Turkish authorities to help the government ensure the safe release of the troops,” Salam said in comments published in As Safir newspaper on Tuesday.

A Turkish aid group said on Monday it would send a new flotilla of ships to break Israel's siege of Gaza, four years after the deadly storming of its vessel by Israeli commandos.

The May 2010 Israeli assault on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara in international waters en route to Gaza sparked widespread condemnation and provoked a major diplomatic crisis between Turkey and Israel.

Turkey's outgoing President Abdullah Gul said on Monday he would return to the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) after he hands over the post of head of state to Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

As president, Gul has by law had to sever all links with the AKP, which he helped to co-found with Erdogan in 2001.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel congratulated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday on winning the election for the Turkish presidency and underscored the country's pivotal role in the troubled region.

"We are currently facing difficult challenges in the region," she said in a message sent to Erdogan and released by her office.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan will on August 28 succeed Abdullah Gul as president of Turkey, after his first round election victory on Sunday.

The elections were the first time that Turkey has directly elected its head of state and the novelty of the situation has given rise to a degree of uncertainty as to what happens next.

The Italian navy said Monday it had rescued more than 2,000 migrants over the weekend from boats in the Mediterranean, bringing the number it has brought ashore this year to nearly 100,000.

It said the latest arrivals included 94 migrants crammed into a 30-meter (98-foot) long sailing boat intercepted off the coast of Calabria by the coast guard, which arrested three Turkish men on board on suspicion of human trafficking.

Four Palestinians who were seriously wounded during Israel's assault on the Gaza Strip arrived in Turkey for treatment in Ankara hospitals, with more expected to come, state media and officials said Monday.

Three women and a teenage boy were flown out of Tel Aviv on a Turkish air ambulance and were received at Ankara airport by Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu early Monday, the Anatolia news agency said.