Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu has accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of resorting to a new strategy of "ethnic cleansing" to create a safe zone for his Alawite sect, in an interview published Wednesday.

"What concerned us about the Banias incident is that (Assad) has switched to a new strategy to reinstate influence by subjecting a certain area to ethnic cleansing," Davutoglu told the Hurriyet newspaper.

Kurdish rebels began withdrawing from Turkey into their stronghold in northern Iraq on Wednesday, a major step towards ending a decades-long conflict that has left tens of thousands of people dead.

The pullout is the first visible sign that months of fragile talks between the state and the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) could succeed in ending 29 years of guerrilla war.

Kurdish rebel leaders have confirmed that their fighters will begin withdrawing from Turkey into bases in neighboring Iraq on Wednesday, the pro-Kurdish Firat news agency reported.

"Our guerrilla forces will take action for starting the pullout process as of May 8, 2013," the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) command said in a statement carried by Firat on Tuesday.

The families of the nine Lebanese pilgrims kidnapped in Syria since May last year pressed on Tuesday their demands to release the men despite the “lack of progress” in the case.

The relatives held a sit-in near the Turkish cultural center and the Turkish Airlines offices in downtown Beirut. The state-run National News Agency said they were joined by Syrian laborers.

Turkish and Israeli officials have come "close" to a deal on compensation for the Jewish state's deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla after talks in Jerusalem on Monday, the Israeli premier's office said.

"The meeting was positive," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement

Turkish Armenians are on edge after weekend attacks against members of the community during Orthodox Easter raised fears about their security.

An unidentified assailant fired seven blank rounds outside an Armenian church in Istanbul's Kumkapi neighborhood on Sunday, causing panic among people celebrating Easter there, the Hurriyet newspaper reported.

Turkish and Israeli officials were meeting in Jerusalem on Monday for another round of talks over compensation for the Jewish state's deadly 2010 raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, an Israeli official told AFP.

Foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the negotiations started at midday (0900 GMT) at the ministry's Jerusalem headquarters, although they were being run by officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's bureau.

The Turkish authorities are carrying out blood tests on Syrians who have fled the fighting at home to determine if they have been victims of chemical weapons, a medical source said Monday.

"Samples have been taken from people wounded in Syria who have been transported to Turkey," the source said on condition of anonymity, adding that the results were not yet known.

Germany's most high-profile neo-Nazi trial begins Monday after 10 mostly racially motivated murders by a long-hidden far-right gang which Chancellor Angela Merkel has called a "disgrace" for the country.

The trial opens amid tight security in the southern city of Munich after a three-week delay over an outcry about media access which has further undermined Germany's image on top of security flaws exposed by the murder spree.

Caretaker Interior Minister Marwan Charbel received on Monday the names of 371 Syrian women detainees to be exchanged with the Lebanese pilgrims abducted in Aazaz, revealing that General Security chief Abbas Ibrahim will start his contacts with the Syrian side over the swap.

"I have received from Ibrahim the list of the 371 Syrian women detainees and I have examined the names in it,” Charbel said in a released statement.