Armed men fired on the cars of two Turks near the Syrian city of Idlib, slightly injuring one of them, Anatolia news agency reported Thursday.

Mehmet Akinay and Nesim Zeytinci were driving to Saudi Arabia through Syria in cars with non-Turkish license plates when they came under fire from gunmen in civilian clothes 15 kilometers from Idlib, Anatolia said.

Turkey will recall its ambassador and freeze ties with Paris if French lawmakers approve a bill banning the denial of the "Armenian genocide" next week, he told Agence France Presse on Thursday.

"There will be irreparable consequences in all bilateral relations," Ambassador Engin Solakoglu said, adding that he expected to be called back to Ankara for an indefinite period from December 22.

Turkish police detained six people over alleged ties to the al-Qaida extremist network in western Turkey, Anatolia news agency reported on Wednesday.

Police arrested the suspects, including the alleged regional head of the outlawed organization, during simultaneous raids at different addresses in western town of Kemalpasa and province of Manisa, Anatolia said.

Army defectors on Tuesday killed seven members of Syria's security forces in retaliation for an attack that cost the lives of 11 civilians, said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, as the Local Coordination Committees said Syrian forces shot dead 33 civilians across the country on Tuesday.

The LCC, the main activist group spurring protests on the ground, said security forces shot dead 20 people in the northwestern province of Idlib, seven in the central province of Hama, four in the central region of Homs and two in the southern province of Daraa.

Turkish President Abdullah Gul went sightseeing in Vienna rather than take part in a lunch in the Austrian capital also attended by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, a report said Saturday.

Both men, in town for the two-day World Policy Conference, were on Austrian President Heinz Fischer's lunch guest list on Friday.

Turkey urged Syrian President Bashar Assad on Friday to punish the "murderers" of anti-regime protesters and accept observers proposed by the Arab League.

"If he (Assad) is now sincere, he will immediately punish the murderers and accept Arab League observers. He still has such an opportunity," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters.

Turkey announced on Wednesday a new set of sanctions against Syria as ties between the two former allies strained further over the Damascus regime's deadly crackdown on opponents.

"We will impose 30 percent tax on goods coming from Syria," Customs and Trade Minister Hayati Yazici was quoted as saying by the private NTV television.

Syria's government on Wednesday welcomed a pledge by Turkey not to let its territory be used as a springboard for any attacks against its neighbors.

"We welcome any Turkish statement aiming to preserve good neighborly relations with Syria," foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Maqdisi told a news conference broadcast live on state television.

An earthquake of 5.1 magnitude hit the Aegean Sea on Monday, with no reports of casualties or damages, Turkish media reported.

The quake struck at 0817 GMT, with its epicenter in the Aegean, the Anatolia news agency said, citing the Istanbul-based Kandilli seismological institute.

Syria is punishing its own people by suspending a free trade agreement with Turkey in retaliation for Turkish sanctions against the Damascus regime, the Turkish economy minister said Sunday.

By cutting off bilateral trade, "the Syrian government punishes its own people, industrialists, exporters and entrepreneurs," Economy Minister Zafer Caglayan said in a statement carried by the state-run Anatolia news agency.