Ankara - Turkish warplanes hit suspected Kurdish separatist positions in northern Iraq on Wednesday, the second bombing run in two days, according to the Turkish military.

According to a short statement on the official website of the General Staff, war planes at around midday bombed suspected Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) positions in the Kandil region of northern Iraq, near the Iraqi border with Iran.

"After successfully completing their missions, our planes returned safely to their bases," the statement said.

The statement said the only aim of the raids were PKK targets and that precautions were taken not to harm civilians.

Ankara  - Turkish warplanes bombed suspected positions of the outlawed Kurdish Workers' Party (PKK) in northern Iraq on Tuesday, the general army staff in Ankara has reported.

The military statement said that the attacks took place in the Qandil mountains, inside Iraq and near to the Iranian border.

Turkish authorities believe the area to be the main hideout of PKK fighters, who have launched repeated attacks from there against the Turkish military.

Ankara - More than 5,000 Turks have signed up to apologize for the "great catastrophe" during the First World War when hundreds of thousands of Armenians died at the hands of Ottoman Turks.

The petition on the website www. ozurdiliyoruz. com, initiated by Turkish journalists and academics, is headed by the simple phrase "I apologize."

Dusseldorf - A female German journalist was given a suspended, 20-month jail term Thursday for supporting a far-left Turkish group that is blamed for terrorist attacks.

Heike S, 43, had originally been accused of membership in the terrorist wing of Devrimci Halk Kurtulus Partisi-Cephesi (DHKP-C), a party seeking a Marxist-Leninist state in Turkey.

The court in Dusseldorf convicted her on the lesser charge of supporting a terrorist group.

The group is accused of firebombing Turkish missions in Germany and beating up renegades and rivals.

Ankara - As political distractions go, the court case to close down Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) was up there with the biggest.

Ever since the Constitutional Court, in a case called by the party's political opponents, decided in July not to close down the AKP, momentum toward joining the EU seems to have stalled.

In September, the EU issued its progress report on Turkey's membership bid. For supporters of Turkish membership it was depressing reading.

Brussels  - European Union foreign ministers Monday dashed Turkey's hopes of joining their club any time soon, saying Ankara had not yet approved the reforms needed to become a member.

While recalling Turkey's "strategic importance" and its success in averting a potential political crisis stemming from calls for the ruling Justice and Development Party to be banned, EU ministers expressed "regret" at Ankara's slow pace of political reform.

"The council (of ministers) recalls that the rhythm of negotiations (with the EU) continues to depend on the progress achieved by Turkey in fulfilling the required conditions," foreign ministers said in a statement.