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Syrian Refugees in Turkey Exceed 100,000

The number of Syrians fleeing the conflict in their homeland and seeking refuge in Turkey now exceeds 100,000, a Turkish disaster agency said on Monday.

Turkey is home to 100,363 refugees housed in several camps in the southeast along the Syrian border, the AFAD disaster agency said in a statement.

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Turkey Asks Europe for Help with Syrian Refugees

Turkey's Europe minister Monday called on Europe to do more to help his country tackle the more than 100,000 refugees fleeing the conflict in Syria, accusing the bloc of being fixated on its debt crisis.

In an interview with German daily Die Welt, Egemen Bagis said: "Europe should start thinking about the people who have fled Syria into Turkey."

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3 Hurt as Passengers Escape Smoke-Filled Turkish Plane

Three people were injured Sunday when a Norway-bound plane at an airport on Turkey's Mediterranean coast was evacuated after fire broke out in the cockpit, a travel agency and television reports said.

Several other passengers suffered smoke inhalation.

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Gas Supplies from Iran to Turkey Resume after Blast

Natural gas supplies from Iran to Turkey, interrupted by a pipeline blast for six days, have resumed, said an official statement Sunday cited by Anatolia news agency.

"The Iranian gas pipeline whose activity was interrupted following an explosion is again in operation," said the statement from Energy Minister Taner Yiliz.

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Syria-Turkey Tensions Soar as Army Launches Counterstrike against Rebels in North

Syria banned Turkish flights from its airspace on Sunday and Turkey made a similar tit-for-tat move, as regime forces counter-attacked rebels to regain territory lost in northern battlegrounds.

The reprisal for Turkey confiscating a cargo of what Russia said was radar equipment being flown from Moscow to Damascus came despite a flurry of diplomacy intended to calm soaring tensions between the neighbors.

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Turkish PM Calls for U.N. Reform to Tackle Syria Crisis

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan called Saturday for reform to the U.N. Security Council to allow progress to resolve the Syria crisis which has been held up by veto powers Russia and China.

"If we must wait for one or two permanent members, then Syria's fate is really in great danger," Erdogan told a conference in Istanbul.

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Taboo of Turkish Army Violence Broken in Landmark Report

Hundreds of Turkish military conscripts have suffered harsh abuse and even torture, said a taboo-breaking report published on Friday.

The 'Rights of Conscripts Initiative' report carries accounts by 432 victims of varying levels of deprivation during military service.

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Turkey Scrambles Jet after Syrian Helicopter Nears Border

Turkey scrambled a fighter jet on Friday after a Syrian helicopter shelled the Syrian town of Azmarin near their common border, an official told Agence France Presse.

"The fighter jet took off from Diyarbakir base in the southeast after (Syrian) regime forces sent a helicopter to shell Azmarin which was seized by rebel forces," the official said on condition of anonymity.

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German Minister to Visit Turkey in Bid to Cool Tensions

German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Friday he has hastily scheduled a visit to NATO partner Turkey in a bid to ease rising tensions with Syria.

Westerwelle, who is on a trip to China, said in a statement he would hold talks Saturday with his Turkish counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu in Istanbul on "the situation in Syria and on the Turkish-Syrian border".

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Report: Syria Deploys Missiles near Border with Lebanon

The Syrian army deployed advanced surface-to-air missiles along the northern border district of Akkar, Ad Diyar newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the report, the missiles can shoot down advanced military warplanes.

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