Turkey's embattled prime minister lashed out at international media on Tuesday, accusing news outlets of stirring unrest during the one-year anniversary of mass anti-government protests.  

Recep Tayyip Erdogan singled out CNN International, whose reporter was arrested live on air last Saturday while covering street clashes, accusing the network of spying. 

Turkey added al-Qaida's franchise in neighboring Syria to a list of terrorist organisations on Tuesday, in a sign of the country's growing concern over the rise of radicals across the border.

Although other jihadist groups fighting in Syria's civil war claim to be inspired by al-Qaida, the Al-Nusra Front is the only one to be officially sanctioned by the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is set to announce his candidature for presidential elections in August despite deepening concern over his polarizing rule. 

Already in his third term as prime minister -- the maximum permitted under his Justice and Development Party (AKP)'s rules -- Erdogan has made no secret of his ambition to run for president.

Taliban insurgents threatened Monday to attack Afghanistan's run-off presidential election, warning voters to stay away from polling stations for fear of injury or death.

Afghans are due to go to the polls on June 14 to choose whether Ashraf Ghani or Abdullah Abdullah should succeed President Hamid Karzai.

Turkish police on Sunday fired tear gas and water cannon at hundreds of protesters in Ankara a day after violent clashes on the one-year anniversary of the country's largest anti-government demonstrations in decades.

Police stepped in to disperse around 500 people from Ankara's downtown Kizilay Square who wanted to stage a demonstration at the site where a 26-year-old protester was shot and killed by police the same day last year, an Agence France Presse photographer said.

Popular video-sharing site YouTube remained blocked in Turkey on Sunday despite the country's top court ruling that the blanket ban contravened the right to free speech. 

Turkey's constitutional court ruled Thursday that the ban on YouTube violated individual rights and freedoms, clearing the way for access to the service to be revived following a two-month ban.

A heavy-handed police crackdown on Turkish protesters marking the one year anniversary of deadly anti-government demonstrations earned Ankara Sunday strong rebuke from the Council of Europe.

"I condemn the excessive use of force by the Turkish police against demonstrators and journalists," Nils Muiznieks, the Council of Europe commissioner for human rights, said in a statement sent to Agence France Presse.

Turkey's combative prime minister warned protesters that police would do "whatever is necessary" to clamp down on demonstrations Saturday in Istanbul's Taksim Square to mark the anniversary of last year's turmoil.

As police deployed some 25,000 officers as well as dozens of water cannon trucks and armored vehicles to prevent would-be demonstrators from reaching the square, Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed tough anti-protest measures.

Mustafa Sarisuluk didn't even recognize his brother as he watched his limp body being carried to an ambulance after being shot in the head during protests in Ankara last year.

"Thousands were at the downtown Kizilay square in Ankara, under massive plumes of tear gas fired by the police billowing into the air. I knew Ethem was there. So was I," Mustafa, 33, told AFP, recalling the anti-government demonstrations that swept the country a year ago.

Germany expressed its "dismay" to the Turkish ambassador in Berlin this week over disparaging remarks Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made about a German opposition leader, a diplomatic source said Friday.

Amid heightened tensions between Ankara and Berlin, Erdogan complained to deputies from his AKP party on Tuesday that a leader of the German Greens party of Turkish origin, Cem Ozdemir, had said "very ugly things" about him.