Few archaeological sites seem as entwined with conflict, ancient and modern, as the city of Karkemish.

The scene of a battle mentioned in the Bible, it lies smack on the border between Turkey and Syria, where civil war rages today. Twenty-first century Turkish sentries occupy an acropolis dating back more than 5,000 years, and the ruins were recently demined. Visible from crumbling, earthen ramparts, a Syrian rebel flag flies in a town that regime forces fled just months ago.

Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said Thursday that the country reserved the right to defend itself against any threat from neighboring Syria, amid discussions about the possible deployment of U.S. Patriot missiles.

"Patriots... are being discussed within NATO. It is only natural for us to take any measure for defense reasons," Gul told reporters, but insisted that it was "out of the question for Turkey to start a war with Syria.”

An Armenian plane carrying humanitarian aid for Syria was forced to land in Turkey on Thursday for an inspection of its cargo, the Anatolia news agency reported.

The cargo plane landed at Erzurum airport in eastern Turkey where teams of police and troops with sniffer dogs began their searches, it said.

Turkey said Wednesday it is in talks with NATO over the possible deployment of Patriot missiles on its soil amid the escalating conflict in neighboring Syria, but the prime minister insisted that no request has yet been made.

Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu told reporters during a visit to Brussels that it was only "normal" to discuss any defense measures in the face of potential risk from Syria, according to the state-run Anatolia news agency.

Turkish commandos have staged a raid against Kurd rebel hideouts in Iraq, NTV news channel reported Wednesday.

The rare cross-border strike hit targets some five kilometers (three miles) inside the border and came as part of an air-backed operation that has been going on for two days, according to NTV.

Iraq has expelled Turkish energy firm TPAO from an exploration deal in the south of the country, an oil ministry official said on Wednesday, the latest sign of worsening ties between Baghdad and Ankara.

"The cabinet decided to exclude the company TPAO from Block 9," said Abdul Mehdi al-Amidi, head of the ministry's contracting and licensing department, referring to an exploration block awarded in May to a consortium made up of Kuwait Energy, TPAO and Dragon Oil of the United Arab Emirates.

The Israeli foreign ministry on Tuesday slammed Turkey for carrying out what it called a "show trial" of four top former Israeli commanders over a deadly 2010 Israeli raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla.

"This is not a trial but a show trial and has nothing to do with law and justice," foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor told Agence France Presse.

Ankara on Monday said it had never authorized a shipment of weapons which authorities in Yemen seized at the weekend and is believed to have originated in Turkey.

"We certainly have not authorized such a shipment of weapons. It is not thinkable to OK such arms exports to countries where conflict risks are high and where it could result in more deaths," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

A man fired blank cartridges outside Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's offices in Ankara during a cabinet meeting on Monday, Anatolia news agency reported.

The suspect fired three times outside the building located near Kizilay Square, the heart of the Turkish capital, ten minutes after the meeting of the ministers started, it said.

Syria's former prime minister Riad Hijab met Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Monday to discuss efforts to restructure the fragmented Syrian opposition, a diplomatic source told Agence France Presse.

"The ways to address the Syrian crisis and a reorganization among the Syrian opposition ranks were discussed," in the meeting, the source said.