Egypt announced Saturday it was expelling Turkey's ambassador, the latest souring of diplomatic ties that began when the Egyptian army ousted Islamist President Mohammed Morsi from power in July.

Ankara said it would reciprocate and hours later, it declared Egypt's ambassador "persona non grata" and downgraded diplomatic relations to the level of charge d'affaires.

Turkish police and protesters clashed on Thursday at the opening of the trial of two people charged with the death of a young man during anti-government street demonstrations this year.

The trouble occurred as a crowd of about 500 people gathered to seek justice for the 19-year-old victim tried to storm the heavily-protected courthouse in Istanbul, an AFP photographer said.

Turkish police arrested a "mentally unstable" man carrying a fake bomb outside the office of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday, officials said, causing a security scare in the capital.

Local television stations had initially reported that police had shot and wounded the suspect but officials and witnesses later said they wrestled him to the ground and only fired shots in the air.

Caretaker Prime Minister Najib Miqati said on Thursday that Lebanese authorities have beefed up security near foreign diplomatic missions, two days after suicide bombers struck the Iranian embassy.

In remarks to the Turkish state-run Anadolu news agency, Miqati said: “We have taken all measures to protect diplomatic missions in Lebanon.”

Turkey's parliament is deadlocked over efforts to draw up a new constitution aimed at enshrining democratic values and replace a military-drafted charter, a ruling party lawmaker said Wednesday.

A special cross-party parliamentary commission set up to write a replacement for the charter introduced by the military junta after a 1980 coup is set to be formally dissolved after failing to make any significant progress.

Turkey's prime minister welcomed the leader of Iraq's autonomous north to his country's own Kurdish-dominated territory for the first time Saturday, in a visit designed to kickstart a stalled peace process.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan greeted Iraqi Kurdish leader Massud Barzani in the Kurds' heartland of Diyarbakir, southeast Turkey, ahead of a series of joint engagements including officiating at a mass wedding.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu landed in Baghdad on Sunday for a slew of meetings with top Iraqi officials as the two neighbors seek a "fresh start" to chilled ties.

Relations between Ankara and Baghdad, which had been on the upswing as recently as 2011, fell off as the two countries clashed over the war in Syria, Turkey's ties with Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region, and sharp words between their prime ministers.

Turkey's deputy prime minister on Friday announced plans to withdraw from active politics after disagreement with leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan over mixed-sex student dorms.

"I want to withdraw from active political life. If Mr Prime Minister allows me and respects my decision, I will not be a candidate for any (government) post," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told TRT-Turk television.

Turkey's conservative Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has stirred controversy with weekend remarks in favor of single-sex dorms in the mainly Muslim but staunchly secular country.

"Female and male students cannot live in the same house," the head of the Islamist-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) was quoted as saying by the Turkish press on Monday.

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday the "will of the people had prevailed" after four female lawmakers wore headscarves in parliament for the first time in years, breaking a taboo in the staunchly secular country.

The ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) lifted in September a decades-old ban on headscarves in the civil service as part of a package of reforms meant to improve democracy and freedoms.