Turkish police detained a prominent female journalist and anchorwoman Tuesday after she criticized on Twitter the dropping of a hotly-disputed corruption probe that ensnared key allies of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The arrest of Sedef Kabas came amid growing concerns about freedom of speech in Turkey under Erdogan following raids earlier this month on opposition media linked to the president's top foe, exiled cleric Fethullah Gulen.

Turkey's top judicial body on Tuesday said it had dismissed four prosecutors who oversaw a massive corruption investigation which damaged the Islamic-rooted government and touched the inner circle of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The Supreme Board of Judges and Prosecutors (HSYK) said Zekeriya Oz, Celal Kara, Muammer Akkas and Mehmet Yuzgec would be removed from their positions, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

The Turkish coastguard was searching Monday for eight people believed to be Syrian migrants missing after their boat capsized off southwestern Turkey while on its way to Greece, news reports said.

Rescuers have found two people alive but were still searching for eight others off the Aegean resort of Bodrum, the Dogan news agency reported.

Mehmet Ali Agca, the Turk who attempted to assassinate John Paul II, was ordered out of Italy on Monday, two days after he paid a surprise visit to the late pope's tomb.

The 56-year-old former right-wing extremist, has been in custody since Saturday, when police realized he had entered the country without the appropriate visa.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday announced he would chair a cabinet meeting in January, a move unprecedented for a Turkish head of state in recent times.

Erdogan, a pious Muslim accused of authoritarianism by critics, led the Turkish government from 2003 to 2014 as prime minister but in August this year won the first ever direct presidential elections to become head of state.

Two seamen died and four more were missing, feared drowned, after a Turkish-registered merchant ship sank off Italy Sunday following a collision with another vessel in rough seas, coastguards said.

The two victims were part of a crew of 11 Turkish nationals aboard the ship when it collided with another, Belize-registered, vessel in storm conditions about a mile and a half (two kilometers) off the port of Ravenna on Italy's Adriatic coast.

A Turkish community leader in Germany warned Sunday against proposals by mainstream politicians for "dialogue" with a far-right populist movement that has drawn thousands to anti-Islamic street protests.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday warned that the government would take action against any further violence in the southeast after three people were killed in fresh clashes between two rival Kurdish groups.

"We will stand firm ... against whoever dares to erode our unity through provocative actions," Davutoglu told his ruling party supporters in the southern province of Hatay bordering Syria.

Two people were killed and three injured Saturday in clashes between Kurdish rebels and a Sunni Islamist group in southeast Turkey near the Syrian border, a local governor's office said.

Tensions have escalated in the town of Cizre since Friday night when the Sunni Muslim Huda-Par group attacked tents belonging to rebels of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), a security source told AFP.

Turkey has the freest press in the world, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday, brushing off accusations that media freedoms were being eroded under his rule.