Turkish President Abdullah Gul said he would not seek a second term in office, further raising the likelihood that Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan would run for the top job.

"I will not present my candidacy... my term expires on August 28," Gul told reporters ahead of a closed-door meeting with Erdogan in Istanbul, adding that he had already informed the premier of his decision before the local elections in March. 

The softly spoken, bespectacled intellectual hoping to defeat Turkey's powerful premier in the country's first direct presidential election faces a steep uphill struggle.

Egypt-born Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu is a former head of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the global grouping of Muslim nations, and a scholar who makes no secret of his devotion to Islam.

Turkey's two main secular opposition parties on Sunday formally backed a devout Muslim to challenge an expected bid for the presidency by the country's prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who heads an Islamic-rooted party. 

The Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) submitted a joint application to parliament to nominate Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, an academic and career diplomat, as their candidate in August presidential elections.

Turkey's ruling party is expected to name Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan as its candidate in August presidential polls on Tuesday, potentially extending his dominance to become the longest serving leader since Ataturk.

Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP) is due to end months of speculation by announcing its candidate at Ankara's Chamber of Commerce, but there is little suspense left. 

The rise of jihadists in Iraq has set the West on edge, but Damascus sees it is an opportunity to legitimize its battle against rebels and promote it as a war on "terror". 

President Bashar Assad's regime has repeatedly denied the existence of a revolt seeking political change in Syria, instead branding its opponents -- both peaceful and armed -- as "terrorists".

A Kurdish man was shot and wounded by police on Saturday when he attempted to remove a Turkish flag from a police station in Istanbul, local media reported.

The incident follows a wave of anger across the country against the taking down of a Turkish flag earlier in June from a military base in the Kurdish-majority southeast.

The Turkish government submitted a reform bill to parliament on Thursday to revive the stalled peace talks with Kurdish militants, in an apparent bid to seek votes from Turkey's biggest minority group in August presidential polls.

The six-article package of reforms will put the peace process under legal protection and grant legal immunity to the key actors -- including politicians, bureaucrats and the spy agency -- involved in the peace talks with Kurdish rebels, a parliamentary source told Agence France Presse.

Turkey raised fears on Wednesday over potential spillover from turmoil in neighboring Iraq, as NATO promised not to hesitate to defend its ally from the widening conflict.

Speaking on the sidelines of a NATO gathering in Brussels, Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu called for greater cooperation with its allies to meet the threat posed by the rise of extremist militants in Iraq and the continuing civil war in Syria.

The Turkish government said Wednesday it will present a bill to parliament aimed at reviving stalled peace talks with Kurdish rebels, in an apparent bid to win presidential election votes from Turkey's biggest minority.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is widely expected to be unveiled on July 1 as the ruling party's candidate for the August polls and support from the Kurdish minority could ease his path to a near certain victory.

A Turkish court on Tuesday acquitted more than two dozen people in a retrial after they were convicted over an alleged coup plot in 2012 against Turkey's Islamic-rooted government. 

Last October, an appeals court ordered a retrial of 88 people, including former army chiefs, who had been sentenced to prison terms of up to 20 years.