Turkey's election authority has denied that a massive data leak which saw the personal information of 50 million citizens posted online came from its system, local media reported Saturday.

A database -- containing Turks' names, identity numbers and addresses -- was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country's leadership.

A five-storey building collapsed spectacularly in a matter of moments in the heart of Istanbul Friday, sending passers-by fleeing in terror, local media reported.

A video of the incident showed people standing by, phones at the ready as the building near Taksim square -- a popular hub for tourists and shoppers -- began to rumble.

Turkey and Israel held a fresh round of talks Thursday in an effort to normalize ties after relations were partially frozen five years ago, said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu.

NATO member Turkey was a key regional ally of Israel until the two countries fell out in 2010 over the deadly storming by Israeli commandos of a Turkish aid ship, the Mavi Marmara, bound for Gaza.

Turkey has detained two shopkeepers accused of savagely beating two teenage Syrian refugees with clubs after spotting them stealing bread in the south of the country, reports said Wednesday.

Security camera footage, which caused outrage on social media, showed two men racing out of their shops in the Hatay region of southern Turkey as the two teens took several loaves of flatbread from a display case.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday accused Russia of siding with Armenia in the resurgent conflict with Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorny Karabakh, saying Moscow was meddling as it had in Ukraine and Syria.

Erdogan's comments are likely to further fuel tensions between Turkey and Russia, whose relations drastically deteriorated after Ankara downed a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November.

Turkey's authorities launched a probe Wednesday into a leak of the personal data of some 50 million Turkish citizens, the latest breach to expose weaknesses in the country's information security.

The massive database -- containing Turks' names, identity numbers and addresses -- was posted online by hackers earlier this week along with sharp jabs at the country's leadership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday suggested that supporters of Kurdish rebels locked in conflict with government troops should be stripped of their Turkish citizenship.

"To prevent them from doing harm we must take all measures, including stripping supporters of the terrorist organization of their citizenship," Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara, referring to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkish police on Tuesday detained almost 70 businessmen, local officials and teachers in a new nationwide sweep against supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's arch foe, reports said.

Sixty-eight people were detained on suspicion of links to the U.S.-based Turkish preacher Fethullah Gulen who Erdogan accuses of running a "parallel state" aimed at usurping him, the state-run Anatolia news agency reported.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will next week inaugurate a new center for Syrian refugees in the southeastern Turkish city of Kilis built with EU funds, Turkey's prime minister said Tuesday.

"We are going to inaugurate a school and a hospital built in Kilis thanks to EU financing with European leaders led by Mrs. Merkel," said Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu in a speech to his ruling party in parliament.

Authorities in southern Turkey have arrested two men suspected of preparing to carry out suicide bombings for the Islamic State (IS) group, which has staged two attacks in Istanbul this year, reports said Tuesday.

The men were arrested in the southern province of Gaziantep, which borders Syria, the local governor's office said in a statement carried by the Dogan news agency.