Embattled Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan struck a defiant tone Saturday, implicitly accusing his rivals of fomenting violence two weeks ahead of key local elections.

"We do not want anyone to equip our youngsters with Molotov cocktails, stones and knives and send them to the streets," he said following mass protests this week in which two people died.

Turkish prosecutors have completed a first batch of indictments in a graft scandal that has rocked the 11-year rule of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, overcoming intense pressure from his conservative government, local media reported Friday.

Mustafa Demir, the mayor of Istanbul's Fatih district, a stronghold of Erdogan's Justice and Development Party (AKP), is among 21 people in the indictment, the reports said, without naming the others.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday accused his opponents of trying to stir up chaos ahead of key local elections later this month, a day after clashes in which two people died.

Erdogan said demonstrators had destroyed the offices of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Istanbul during mass protests over the killing of a teenage boy by riot police.

Riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at protesters in Ankara and Istanbul on Wednesday as tens of thousands took to the streets to mourn a teenage boy who died from injuries suffered in last year's anti-government protests.

In the Turkish capital, police clashed with demonstrators as they tried to stop traffic, making a number of arrests and leaving several injured.

The exiled Turkish cleric at the heart of a bitter feud with embattled Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called for a new constitution and accused the government of holding the country to ransom.

Fethullah Gulen said in a comment piece published in the Financial Times on Tuesday that a new democratic constitution, drafted by civilians, was needed to restore trust at home and abroad.

Turkish riot police fired tear gas Tuesday at protesters massed outside a hospital after the death of a teenage boy wounded during anti-government protests last year and left comatose.

About 1,000 people staged a rally outside an Istanbul hospital in solidarity with 15-year-old Berkin Elvan, who was walking to buy bread when he was struck in the head by a tear gas canister during the unrest in the city in June.

A Turkish court on Friday ordered the immediate release of ex-military chief Ilker Basbug who was sentenced to life in prison last year for plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government, his lawyer said.

The decision came a day after Turkey's top Constitutional Court ruled that Basbug's legal rights had been violated, saying that a lower court had failed to publish its detailed verdict on the case and send it to the appeals court.

Turkey's embattled prime minister has warned that his government could ban popular social media networks YouTube and Facebook after a number of online leaks added momentum to a spiraling corruption scandal.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan's proposals to tighten his government's grip over the Internet have generated criticism at home and abroad about rights in the EU-hopeful country.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he was ready to step down if his ruling party, in power since 2002, loses key local elections later this month.

"I am ready to quit politics unless my party emerges winner in the elections" scheduled for March 30, said Erdogan, who is battling a damaging corruption investigation which poses the greatest challenge yet to his 11 years in power.

Turkey's president on Tuesday ordered a probe into wiretapping and the government's ability to fight corruption amid a widening graft scandal that has rocked Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's administration.

President Abdullah Gul ordered the top auditing body, the State Auditing Board, to investigate rules surrounding the wiretapping of communications to "assess their compliance with the law".