Turkey called on Israel on Tuesday to "immediately" halt its assault against the Gaza Strip, following the deadly air campaign against the Palestinian enclave.

"We are calling on Israel to immediately halt its attacks on Gaza," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Tuesday he would visit the Central Asian state of Uzbekistan this week, the first such trip by the top Turkish diplomat in 13 years amid efforts to improve troubled relations.

"Uzbekistan is a friendly and brotherly country at the heart of Central Asia," Davutoglu, who will begin his visit on Thursday, told reporters in Ankara.

A stroke of genius in political image-making? A subtle tribute to the prophet Mohammed? Or crude plagiarizing from U.S. President Barack Obama's election campaign?

Whatever the truth, the logo for Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's presidential election campaign has already stoked controversy over a month ahead of the August 10 poll, in a sign of how divisive the election risks being.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday vowed to take the fight against an ally-turned-foe Muslim cleric to a new level if he is elected president in August 10 elections.

"If elected president, I will take the fight against the parallel structure to the next level," Erdogan told lawmakers of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in parliament.

Thousands of Syrian refugee women are caught in a "spiral of hardship, isolation and anxiety," widowed or separated from their husbands and struggling to survive, the U.N. warned on Tuesday.

In a new report, the U.N. agency for refugees UNHCR highlighted the plight of some 145,000 Syrian refugee women who are fending for themselves and their families in dire circumstances across the Middle East.

A Turkish court on Monday arrested a riot policeman accused of killing a protester during mass anti-government protests last year, in a key victory for the victim's family.

The family of 26-year-old Ethem Sarisuluk -- who was shot dead in anti-government protests in Ankara -- has long denounced the trial as biased and pointed to alleged political pressure on the judiciary.

Turkish police have ordered a major new investigation into the movement run by an influential Muslim cleric locked in a feud with Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, over an alleged plot to overthrow the government, a report said on Monday.

U.S.-exiled Fethullah Gulen has long been accused by Erdogan of using his Hizmet (Service) movement, whose supporters have strong ties to Turkey's police and judiciary, to instigate a corruption probe implicating key government allies.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appears all but assured of winning upcoming Turkish presidential polls, but he could find himself in charge of a far more fragile economy than in the last decade of his rule.

Analysts say the Turkish strongman is jeopardizing the long-term health of the economy by picking a fight with the nominally independent central bank and pushing it towards a looser monetary policy at a time of stubbornly high inflation.

The sun is setting but the party is only just beginning for 29-year-old Merve Kortan, one of the many young Turks who hang out in Istanbul's vibrant Beyoglu district.

New alcohol legislation has made it more expensive and harder to buy or sell alcohol in Turkey, with critics accusing the Islamic-rooted government of imposing a religious agenda in the mainly Muslim but officially secular nation. 

Turkish Prime Minister and presidential hopeful Recep Tayyip Erdogan ridiculed his main election opponent on Sunday, referring to him as "mon cher" -- a derogatory term used in Turkey to describe elitists.

"They ask a candidate whether he will address the issue of roads (construction) if elected. He replies he has nothing to do with roads ... They are mon cher but we are servants," Erdogan told thousands of supporters in a rally in the eastern province of Erzurum.