The leader of the 1980 Turkish coup and a co-conspirator have been charged with crimes against the state after an Ankara court approved an indictment Tuesday, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Prosecutors have sought life imprisonment for ailing retired generals Kenan Evren, 94, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, 86, it reported.

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden called Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan to discuss regional security, including Iraq's political crisis, the White House said Thursday.

The call followed up on Biden's visit to Turkey in December, and included an undertaking to work to support the rule of law and encourage democracy in the region, the White House said in a statement.

Gaza's Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniya will Monday meet the head of an Islamic aid group whose Gaza-bound vessel was stormed by Israeli troops in 2010 in a raid that left nine activists dead.

Haniya, who is making his first trip abroad since Hamas rose to power in Gaza in 2007, will tour the Turkish passenger ship Mavi Marmara and meet relatives of the victims.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed regret Friday for the death of 35 Kurdish civilians in an air strike, saying it had been determined they were smugglers and not separatist rebels.

Speaking to journalists in Istanbul, Erdogan offered his condolences to the families of the victims for what he called an "unfortunate and distressing" incident.

Turkey's deputy prime minister Sunday accused French President Nicolas Sarkozy of breaking a promise that the parliament would not pass a bill criminalizing the denial of genocide in Armenia.

French lawmakers voted Thursday to jail and fine anyone in France who denies that the 1915 killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire amounted to genocide, prompting Turkey to suspend political and military cooperation with Paris.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday accused France of committing "genocide" in Algeria after French lawmakers voted a bill criminalizing the denial of Armenian genocide.

"France massacred an estimated 15 percent of the Algerian population starting from 1945. This is genocide," Erdogan told a news conference after the French move on the 1915 massacre of Armenians by Ottoman-era forces.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a raft of political and military sanctions on Thursday after French lawmakers approved a bill making it a crime to deny Armenian genocide.

Turkey will recall its ambassador from Paris and suspend mutual political visits as well as joint military projects, including joint exercises, Erdogan said.

Turkey has recalled its ambassador from Paris in protest at a decision by the French parliament to back a law banning denial of the Armenian genocide, a spokesman for the embassy said Thursday.

Tahsin Burcuoglu will leave France on Friday, while further measures in response to the vote will be announced in Turkey by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, spokesman Engin Solakoglu told AFP.

Former Prime Minister Saad Hariri stressed on Wednesday the need for the whole of Lebanon to come under the control of the state and army.

He said: “No one in Lebanon can eliminate the other and we are all Lebanese and bound to work together.”

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan appealed Friday to French President Nicolas Sarkozy to block the approval of an Armenian genocide bill and warned of "serious consequences" if it passes.

"This bill directly targets the Turkish Republic, the Turkish nation and the Turkish community living in France and it is hostile," Erdogan said in a letter sent to Sarkozy, according to the Anatolia news agency.