Ankara - Israeli caretaker Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in Ankara Monday for talks with Turkish leaders that are expected to concentrate on bilateral and regional issues, including developments in the Middle East peace process.

Olmert spokesman Mark Regev confirmed that indirect negotiations between Syria and Israel that are being hosted by Turkey will also be on the agenda during talks with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Abdullah Gul.

Istanbul - The Turkish shoe company that produces the brand of footware used by an Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George Bush has seen a surge in orders in the past week.

Ramazan Baydan, owner of the shoe factory in Istanbul of the same name, told the Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that he had received orders for some 300,000 pairs of the model that was thrown at the US president.

"Someone even came from America seeking distribution rights," Baydan said.

Ankara - The Turkish General Staff on Friday expressed opposition to an internet campaign in which almost 14,000 people have apologized for the "great catastrophe" during the First World War when hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks, NTV television reported.

"We do not find it right and this may lead to Turkey being hurt," NTV quoted General Staff spokesman Metin Durak at a media briefing.

The "I apologize" campaign was initiated by Turkish journalists and academics and was launched on Monday.

Ankara - Turkey's nuclear energy board on Friday gave the green light to the Russian firm Atomstroyexport to build Turkey's first nuclear power plant, the Anka news agency reported.

Istanbul  - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday criticized an online petition in which thousands of Turks apologized for the massacre of hundreds of thousands of Armenians at the hands of Ottoman Turks during the First World War.

"I haven't committed any crime. Why should I apologize?" Erdogan asked. rejecting the initiative, and adding that an apology in this matter would not be logical, as it would have to come from the perpetrators of the crime.

Ankara - An armed attack outside the US consulate in Istanbul in July was carried out by members of al-Qaeda, the private Dogan news agency reported on Wednesday.

The claim was made in an indictment released Wednesday in which prosecutor Fikret Secen said he would be seeking jail terms up to 15 years for two people allegedly connected to the shoot-out that left three police officers and the three attackers dead.

Witnesses of the July 9 attack said a car slowed down and stopped outside the main gate of the consulate in the suburb of Istinye. Three men got out of the car and fired at police, starting a firefight that lasted between seven and eight minutes.