Turkey's powerful former intelligence chief announced Monday he is dropping a bid to run for parliament in the wake of criticism from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over his decision to resign and seek elected office.

"As of today, I deem it necessary to withdraw my application to run... in the general elections," Fidan said in a statement carried by the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Four people have been detained over their connections to one of the jihadists who carried out the Paris attacks in January, a judicial source said on Monday.

The four are said to be friends with Amedy Coulibaly, who killed four people at a Jewish supermarket and a policewoman during the January 7-9 attacks.

Kathmandu's international airport reopened late Saturday, ending a four-day shutdown after a plane skidded off its only runway which left thousands stranded at the start of a busy tourist season.

Nepalese and Indian experts worked for days to help remove the damaged Turkish Airlines A330 after it veered off the runway with 224 passengers on board early Wednesday.

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan criticized the West Saturday for taking in so few Syrian refugees, while pledging to continue his country's open-door policy for people fleeing the four-year-old conflict.   

"Do you how many displaced Syrians have been received by European countries? 200,000. We have welcomed two million. What a difference!" the Turkish leader said in Gaziantep, which is near the Syrian border and home to several refugee camps.

The United Nations food agency said Friday it had been forced to withdraw aid from nine Syrian refugee camps in Turkey due to a lack of funds, calling on donors to step up.

"Unfortunately, in February, we were forced to ask the Turkish government to take over assistance in nine camps where we could not continue providing aid because we lack funds," said World Food Programme spokeswoman Elisabeth Byrs.

An opposition leader from the Central Asian nation of Tajikistan was shot dead by an unknown gunman on a street in Istanbul late Thursday, Turkish media reported on Friday. 

Umarali Kuvvatov, head of the "Group 24" opposition group, was killed with a gunshot wound to the head in Istanbul's conservative Fatih district, said the Dogan news agency. 

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu took a swipe at the United Nations and world powers on Thursday over their failed efforts to end the war in Syria, saying they lacked a clear strategy.

Davutoglu told reporters after meeting Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that the U.N. plan to freeze fighting in Aleppo, which has failed to make headway, fell short of a comprehensive approach.

An alarming number of Turks from students to celebrities are facing criminal charges over draconian laws prohibiting insult or disrespect to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, fueling criticism that they are aimed at stifling dissent.

Erdogan's opponents accuse him of increasing megalomania, and the authorities of setting up a cult of personality around the man who has ruled Turkey either as president or prime minister since 2003.

Two Turkish pilots were killed on Thursday when their fighter jet crashed during a training flight, the military said, the second such accident in less than two weeks in the key NATO member.  

An F4 aircraft that took off for a training flight at 0658 GMT crashed at 0750 GMT in the central Anatolian city of Konya, the Turkish Armed Forces said in a statement on its website. 

Turkey will not take part in any military offensive by Iraq to retake the city of Mosul from the Islamic State group, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said Thursday.

"We would support Mosul but will not combat directly," Davutoglu was quoted as saying by the Hurriyet newspaper en route to New York, referring to Turkey's willingess to offer Iraq logistical and other assistance, but not troops.