A Turkish court has issued arrest warrants for four prosecutors and one military officer in a controversial case over the interception last year of trucks that allegedly contained arms bound for neighboring Syria, reports said Thursday.

The four prosecutors had been reassigned and then suspended after they ordered the search of several trucks and buses in the southern provinces of Hatay and Adana near the Syrian border in January 2014 on suspicions of smuggling "ammunition and arms" into Syria.

U.N. envoy Espen Barth Eide on Tuesday urged the rival leaders of Cyprus to finally seize a "unique opportunity" to broker a peace deal after four decades of division on the island.

"I am very encouraged by the climate that has been created over the last weeks and months here and I think this is an opportunity that Cypriots must take," Eide told reporters.

Turkish authorities on Tuesday formally arrested and charged with "terrorism" two dozen people detained during May Day demonstrations in Istanbul, state media said. 

According to official figures, police on May Day detained 366 people in various parts of the city following clashes.

The top U.S. diplomat to Turkey on Monday called for the protection of fundamental freedoms, no matter whether the NATO ally is ruled by a presidential or parliamentary system.

Ambassador John Bass said it was up to the Turkish people to decide which system they preferred, amid a debate over how the country should be governed ahead of a key parliamentary vote in June.

Syria's army cut the last main supply route for a rebel bastion east of Damascus Sunday, further tightening a crippling siege on the area, a monitor and state media said. 

"The regime has cut off the last main road for rebels leading out of Eastern Ghouta," the main opposition stronghold in Damascus province, said Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman. 

Turkey on Friday was holding in detention two judges who issued a controversial release order that would have allowed the liberation from custody of dozens of opponents of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the official Anatolia news agency reported.

Judges Metin Ozcelik and Mustafa Baser at the weekend issued an order to release the 74 former police and the head of the Samanyolu TV channel Hidayet Karaca from police custody.

The U.S. ambassador to Turkey on Friday hit back at sexist remarks by Ankara's maverick mayor to the U.S. State Department spokeswoman by  posting a picture of himself with blond hair.

Ankara Mayor Melih Gokcek, a close ally of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, had on Wednesday fired off an extraordinary diatribe on Twitter over the Baltimore rioting, telling the U.S. State Department acting spokeswoman Marie Harf to "come on blonde answer now."

Turkish police on Friday used water cannon and tear gas to disperse May Day protesters in Istanbul as tens of thousands of labor activists turned out worldwide to defend their rights at a time of austerity.

Turkish police had blocked all vehicle access and cut public transport to prevent protests on Taksim Square in the center of Istanbul, the traditional focus for protests in the country's largest city.

Turkish authorities on Thursday issued arrest warrants for two judges in a legal standoff over an order to release 75 suspects detained on suspicion of plotting to overthrow Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, reports said.

The judges at the weekend issued an order to release the 74 former police and the head of the Samanyolu TV channel Hidayet Karaca from police custody.

Turkey braced Thursday for a tense Labor Day, with the authorities banning May 1 demonstrations on the iconic Taksim Square in Istanbul and the prime minister warning any disorder would not be tolerated.

Labor Day has seen recurring clashes in the last years between the security forces and leftist protesters.