Candidates backed by Turkey's ruling party won the majority of seats in elections for the country's top judicial body, further tightening government control over the judiciary, state media said Monday.

The weekend vote was the latest round in a bitter feud between President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his former ally Fethullah Gulen, whom he accuses of using his influence over the police and judiciary to damage the government with corruption allegations.

Kurdish fighters engaged in fierce clashes with jihadists on the Turkish border near Kobane on Monday, as Ankara denied allowing Washington to use its bases against the Islamic State group.

U.S. officials had earlier said Turkey would also host training for "moderate" Syrian rebels, in the hopes of finally creating a force capable of tackling IS on the ground.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday launched an angry tirade at modern day "Lawrence of Arabias" who he said were bent on causing trouble in the Middle East.

British officer T.E. Lawrence, better known as Lawrence of Arabia, helped Arab leaders fight a guerrilla insurgency against the forces of the Ottoman Empire in the desert during World War I.

The Turkish authorities have freed three German photojournalists arrested in the mainly Kurdish southeast of the country after holding them in custody for over a day, the reporters said Monday.

Freelance photo reporters Bjoern Kietzmann, Ruben Martin Neugebauer and Christian Grodotzki had been arrested late Saturday while covering a pro-Kurdish protest in the city of Diyarbakir.

Heavy fighting broke out on Monday between Islamist jihadists and Kurdish fighters close to the Turkish border just north of the besieged Syrian town of Kobane, an Agence France Presse correspondent reported.

The clashes threatened to cut all access from Kobane to the Turkish border and block the passage which which has so far allowed some 200,000 refugees from the Kobane area to find refuge in Turkey.

Police and the army have arrested Lebanese, Gulf and Syrian nationals having hundreds of thousands of dollars in their possession for the purpose of buying arms, As Safir daily reported on Monday.

The ISF arrested a couple of weeks ago a Lebanese man in the northern city of Tripoli. He had 200,000 dollars in his possession, it said.

Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu on Sunday called for military backing for Syria's "moderate opposition" to create a "third force" in the war-torn country to take on the Damascus regime as well as Islamic State militants.

The call comes as Turkey faces international pressure to step in to defend the mainly Kurdish Syrian border town of Kobane from IS jihadists.

Turkey's government will seek new powers to crack down on violent demonstrations, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday, after dozens died in a wave of Kurdish-led protests over Ankara's policies in Syria.

"The Republic of Turkey would not be a state if it were not able to control a few thugs," Erdogan said in a speech in the northeastern town of Bayburt. "They may burn, but they will pay the price. We will go further," he said.

The European Commission will give 3.9 million euros ($4.9 million dollars) in aid to humanitarian groups helping refugees from the besieged Syrian border town of Kobane, a statement said Sunday.

"Over 180,000 Syrians have been displaced to Turkey by the fierce fighting in Kobane. This further adds to the impact of what is the biggest humanitarian crisis of our times," said Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response.

Germany is urging Iran, Turkey and Arab countries to put their "old rivalries aside" to combat the Islamic State (IS) militants, Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said in an interview to appear Sunday.

"We are trying to persuade Arab countries, Turkey and Iran that we have to fight together against IS," he told the Tagesspiegel am Sonntag newspaper.