Turkey's top court ruled on Wednesday that the rights of 230 military officers sentenced to long prison terms in 2012 for plotting against the government were violated, local media reported.

The judgement by the Constitutional Court said there were reasons to doubt the evidence and witness statements used in the highly publicized Sledgehammer trial, opening the way for a potential retrial according to government press agency Anatolia.

Ageing general Kenan Evren, the first convicted coup leader in Turkey's modern history, is regarded by many as a savior of the nation but by others as a man with blood on his hands.

The ailing former president, 96, was sentenced to life in prison on Wednesday along with former air force commander Tahsin Sahinkaya, 89, for their roles in the country's bloodiest putsch, the two surviving members of the junta to be tried.

A Turkish court on Wednesday handed life sentences to two ageing generals behind a 1980 military takeover, the bloodiest in Turkey's coup-ridden history.

Kenan Evren, 96, and Tahsin Sahinkaya, 89, were found guilty of setting the stage for a military intervention, ousting the civilian government by force and committing acts against the forces of the state.

A Turkish magazine fined for publishing comments from banned Kurdish separatist group the PKK won a victory Tuesday when the European Court of Human Rights ruled that its right to freedom of expression had been breached.

The pro-Kurdish Dema Nu was hit by a number of judicial proceedings after publishing articles quoting the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK).

Turkey said it evacuated its consulate in the southern Iraqi city of Basra on Tuesday for security reasons, a week after Islamist militants attacked its mission in Mosul and kidnapped several dozen Turks.

"In the context of the situation in Iraq, and because of the heightened security risk in the Basra region, our consulate general was evacuated today Tuesday," Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Twitter.

A Turkish court on Tuesday imposed a blackout on media coverage of the kidnapping of dozens of Turks by Islamist militants in northern Iraq, the television watchdog said.

The Supreme Board of Radio and Television (RTUK) has delivered the court ruling to Turkish newspapers, televisions and websites, which were banned from reporting on the abductions and could face penalties if they violate the ban.

Turkish police on Tuesday detained 11 people, including former top officers, in a probe into illegally wiretapping Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, local media reported. 

Police raided the homes of a dozen people in the capital Ankara, including the prime minister's former chief of guard and an ex-police chief, who could face charges of espionage for eavesdropping on Erdogan's office in 2012. 

The kidnapping in Iraq of dozens of Turks by extremist fighters has revived debate over Ankara's alleged courtship of jihadist groups and prompted calls for an overhaul in its approach to the war in Syria. 

The abduction in Mosul last week of 49 Turkish diplomats, guards and children, as well as 31 truck drivers by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), drew a fierce rebuke from Turkey's government and the opposition, which accused Ankara of siding with extremists fighting in Syria and Iraq. 

Turkey's two main opposition parties backed an Islamic-leaning intellectual on Monday to challenge an expected bid by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan for the presidency.

The Republican People's Party (CHP) and Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) threw their support behind Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, an experienced academic and diplomat, to run against Erdogan in Turkey's first democratic presidential vote on August 10.

Syria's army said on Sunday it had recaptured the strategic town of Kasab, near the only border crossing with Turkey in Latakia province, after it fell to rebels almost three months ago.

"After crushing many members of the mercenary terrorist gangs... units of our armed troops in collaboration with the (paramilitary) National Defense Force returned safety and security to Kasab this morning," an army statement said.