AP

Police push back hundreds of protesters trying to enter a courthouse where prosecutors are scheduled to deliver final arguments in the case against hundreds of people accused of plotting to overturn the Islamic-leaning government, in Silivri near Istanbul on Thursday.

A verdict in the four-year long case involving 275 defendants, including Turkey's former military chief Ilker Basbug and other army officers as well as lawyers, academics and journalists, is expected in the coming weeks. The defendants face dozens of charges, ranging from membership in an underground "terrorist organisation" to instigating an armed uprising against the Justice and Development Party which came to power in 2002.

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Turkish riot police fire tear gas as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30, 2012.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

A protestor throws a fire bomb during clashes in Istanbul, Oct. 30.

The Associated Press reports — Kurdish protesters clashed with police on Tuesday near a prison in southeastern Turkey where some inmates are on a hunger strike, witnesses said.

Several thousand people joined a protest march to a prison in the city of Diyarbakir, and police used tear gas and water cannon to drive back groups of demonstrators who threw stones and firebombs from side streets. Shops were shuttered and many families did not send their children to school in line with calls for a boycott.

After decades of oppression, Kurds in Syria get taste of freedom

Hundreds of Kurdish prisoners in dozens of Turkish jails are on a hunger strike to demand increased rights for Kurds and improved jail conditions for Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, who is being held on an island near Istanbul. Most of the prisoners are jailed for alleged links to the rebels, who are deemed terrorists by Turkey and its Western allies.

Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan says rebels are orchestrating the hunger strike and that the government will not bow to blackmail. The government has sought to reconcile with disaffected members of Turkey's Kurdish minority, but activists who seek autonomy in the mostly Kurdish southeast and say state concessions have not gone far enough.

A surge in attacks by the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party in recent months has further eclipsed efforts to find a peaceful solution to a conflict that has dragged on since the 1980s, claiming tens of thousands of lives.

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Turkish riot police fire a water cannon as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

Protestors help a woman affected by tear gas used by police during clashes against Kurdish demonstrators protesting in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

Kurdish protestors stand in front of a flaming barricade during clashes between Kurdish demonstrators and riot police in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

Turkish riot police take positions as they clash with Kurdish demonstrators during a protest in support of a hunger strike movement by Kurdish prisoners in Istanbul, Turkey, Oct. 30.

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Osman Orsal / Reuters

A helicopter releases water above a blazing tower block in Istanbul, Turkey on July 17, 2012. A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said.

Alptekin Soykan / EPA

Debris fell from the upper floors of the building, made up of apartments and offices.

Erhan Elaldi / EPA

Firefighters try to put out the fire. Occupants of the building exited wearing breathing masks. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Reuters reports — A large fire broke out in a 42-storey tower block in central Istanbul on Tuesday, sending thick smoke billowing into the air before firefighters extinguished the blaze, and there were no reports of casualties, officials said.

Live images on Turkish television earlier showed debris falling from the upper floors of the building, which is made up of residential apartments and offices, as fire crews fought the blaze.

People wearing breathing masks were led out by fire crews. Read the full story.

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AP

A heavily armed gunman walks inside the courtyard of the the Ottoman-era Topkapi Palace in Istanbul, Turkey, on Nov. 30, 2011. A gunman wounded a soldier and a security guard at the entrance of Istanbul's Topkapi Palace before being shot dead Wednesday, witnesses said.

Osman Orsal / Reuters

A police officer tries to keep away people from the entrance of Topkapi Palace in Istanbul on Nov. 30, 2011.

msnbc.com news services report:

A heavily armed gunman wounded a soldier and a security guard at the entrance of Istanbul's Topkapi Palace before being shot dead Wednesday, witnesses said.

Multiple gun shots were heard from behind high walls of the Topkapi Palace, which is across the city's Blue Mosque, an Associated Press Television editor at the scene said.

A picture by IHA news agency showed the man carrying at least two rifles and a cartridge belt around his neck. The picture shows the man wearing a black overcoat, cap and also carrying a backpack. Read the full story.

Osman Orsal / Reuters

French climber Alain Robert, also known as "Spiderman", scales the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul May 17, 2011.

Osman Orsal / Reuters

French climber Alain Robert, climbs the Sapphire Tower in Istanbul May 17, 2011.

Murad Sezer / Reuters

French climber Alain Robert scales the 856 feet high Sapphire Tower in Istanbul on May 17, 2011. The Sapphire Tower is Turkey's highest building.

Alain Robert usually climbs skyscrapers illegally, but this time, he was invited to scale the recently completed building in Istanbul. Robert has climbed more than 70 skyscrapers including the Empire State Building and last March, the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa in Dubai. I wonder if it was as scary for the photographer as it looks like it must be for the climber.

Read more about the fire here.

Burak Akbulut / Reuters

Fire fighters try to extinguish a fire at The Haydarpasa station in Istanbul November 28. A fire tore through the roof of the major train station on the Asian side of Istanbul on Sunday before fire fighters brought it under control. The Haydarpasa station, built by German architects early in the 20th Century, is a major rail terminal linking Istanbul to the rest of Turkey.

Bulent Kilic / AFP - Getty Images

Smoke rises from the historic Haydarapasa train station building, on Nov. 28.