Ankara - Turkey has revised upwards its inflation estimates for 2008, with Central Bank Governor Durmus Yilmaz saying recent falls in the Turkish lira amid the global economic crisis had contributed to the rise in inflation.

Speaking in Ankara, Yilmaz said inflation was expected to rise to 11.1 per cent by the end of 2008, an increase of 0.5 percent from mid- year forecasts, and a full 7.1 percentage points higher than the government's initial inflation target for 2008 of 4 per cent.

Yilmaz told reporters that the recent slide in the value of the lira had increased inflationary pressures.

Istanbul - Isolating Iran and Syria is a misguided strategy, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Thursday during an opening speech at the World Economic Forum in Istanbul.

"Dialogue between countries in the region is better than pressure from outside," he said.

Though his speech did not name the United States specifically, his comments were considered to be aimed directly as US policy.

Ankara - Pakistan and Afghanistan leaders on Thursday reiterated their pledges to cooperate towards promoting peace, security, stability and economic development in the region.

Ankara - The Istanbul trial of 86 alleged coup plotters hit a delay Monday when one of the accused insisted that the entire 2,455-page indictment be read out in court, CNN-Turk television reported.

The broadcaster reported that the demand for a full reading came from just one defendant exercising his right to have the entire indictment read. The process is likely to take up to 10 days.

Ankara - Turkish military police Saturday detained 88 foreigners found packed inside the back of a truck just outside Ankara, the Anadolu news agency reported.

Gendarmes, military police responsible for security in rural areas, discovered the would-be migrants during a routine traffic inspection in the district of Elmadag.

Baghdad - Top US Commander in Iraq General Ray Odierno has pledged to work with the Iraqi and Turkish governments to halt any attacks by the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) against Turkey, a US military statement said Saturday.

Odierno met in Turkey Saturday with General Hasan Igsiz, deputy chief of Turkish General Staff, to discuss military cooperation and "US forces' ongoing assistance to Turkey in its effort to defeat the Kurdish rebel group known as the Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK," according to the statement.

A spate of PKK attacks killed dozens of Turkish soldiers and civilians, sparking public outcry and pledges from Turkish leaders to deal with the group, the statement noted.