Cyprus President Nicos Anastasiades on Wednesday urged Turkey to lift its blockade of offshore gas exploration that would benefit both the Greek and Turkish Cypriots once the island is reunited.

A Turkish court on Friday jailed three prominent journalists for life on charges of links to the group blamed for the 2016 failed coup, state media said.

Turkey on Friday freed a German-Turkish journalist held for more than a year in jail without facing trial, in a surprise move which may help repair severely eroded ties between Ankara and Berlin.

The Netherlands announced Monday it was withdrawing its ambassador from Turkey, and will refuse to allow Ankara to post one in the country as diplomatic ties plunged to new lows.

Economic growth in Turkey picked up speed in the second quarter, and will likely exceed the government's target for the whole year,  official data showed on Monday. 

Turkey has dismissed over 900 public sector officials in the latest wave of the purge that followed last year's failed coup, according to an emergency decree published Friday.

Turkey warned Wednesday that plans by the leadership in Iraq's autonomous Kurdish region to hold a referendum on independence could lead to civil war, in Ankara's strongest warning yet against next month's poll.

"In that country (Iraq), which has been through so many problems, a referendum on independence can make the situation even worse," Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told the state TRT Haber broadcaster.

A Turkish court ordered the formal arrest of a film producer after he made a controversial movie showing President Recep Tayyip Erdogan held at gunpoint in a bloody coup d'etat, reports said Wednesday.

The consequences of the failed July 15 coup in Turkey increased Ankara's international isolation, exposing shortcomings in the government's sometimes overambitious foreign policy, analysts say.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday slammed the economic and political isolation of Qatar as inhumane and contrary to Islamic values after key Gulf states broke off ties with Ankara's ally.

"Taking action to isolate a country in all areas is inhumane and un-Islamic," Erdogan said in televised comments to his party in Ankara, after Saudi Arabia, UAE and Bahrain broke off relations with Qatar on June 5, accusing it of supporting "terrorism".