A Turkish court has freed 45 people, including eight journalists, accused of ties to outlawed Kurdish rebels after more than two years of pre-trial custody, local media said Thursday.

They were arrested in late 2011 in a crackdown on the banned Kurdish Communities Union (KCK), accused of being the political wing of the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey banned YouTube on Thursday after the video-sharing website was used to spread damaging leaked audio files from a state security meeting debating possible military action in Syria.

The recording purports to be of senior Turkish government, military and spy officials discussing plans to stage an armed clash in Syria or a missile attack that would serve as a pretext for a military response.

Turkey hopes to soon close a difficult chapter with Israel sparked by a deadly commando raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla of aid ships in 2010, Turkish foreign minister told Agence France Presse.

Nine pro-Palestinian Turkish activists were killed in the Israeli assault, sparking a major crisis between the long-time regional allies and compensation claims from the victims' families.

Turkey is ready to take any measures, including cross-border military operations into war-torn Syria, against threats to its national security, its foreign minister warned Wednesday.

"The Turkish republic is a powerful state and never hesitates to take any measures to protect its national security if need be," Ahmet Davutoglu told AFP in an exclusive interview.

A Turkish court Wednesday overturned a controversial Twitter ban imposed after audio recordings spread via the social media site implicated Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan in a corruption scandal.

The Ankara administrative court ruled that the ban restricted freedom of expression, after the Turkish Bar Association put up a legal challenge against the government's move, saying it was without legal grounds and an arbitrary decision.

Tensions are running high on the Turkey-Syria border following the shooting down of a Syrian warplane by Turkish forces at the weekend, the Turkish army said Tuesday.

The military reported a dozen incidents involving its aircraft and Syrian anti-aircraft defenses on Monday alone.

A long-awaited compensation deal for Turkish victims of a deadly Israeli raid on a Gaza aid flotilla four years ago will soon be signed, Ankara said on Tuesday.

The May 2010 Israeli assault on the Turkish ship the Mavi Marmara while it was in international waters on its way to Gaza triggered a severe diplomatic crisis between the two countries.

The United States on Monday noted there have been more Turkish tweets since the prime minister controversially banned the micro-blogging service than before.

Turkey's telecommunications authority blocked local access to the U.S. social network Thursday under orders of Recep Tayyip Erdogan, after opposition members used the social network to post telephone recordings implicating him in a major corruption scandal.

Syrian rebels have launched a fierce offensive against President Bashar Assad's troops in four northern provinces, aiming to reverse a string of defeats, an NGO and rebels said Monday.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon, meanwhile, said humanitarian access to Syrians remains "extremely challenging" a month after the world body demanded a lifting of sieges and bombardments of residential areas.

Syrian rebels on Monday overran a key village on Turkey's border as Syria's air force launched raids along the frontier a day after Ankara's jets shot down a regime warplane.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that the rebels were now in full control of Kasab, the first border crossing with Turkey seized by opposition fighters in sensitive Latakia province, President Bashar Assad's heartland.