A Turkish court on Monday ordered the release of four more defendants convicted over an alleged coup to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government, media reported.

The ruling came after former army chief Ilker Basbug -- sentenced to life in jail in connection with the so-called "Ergenekon" conspiracy -- was released from prison on Friday.

A Turkish court has freed five men accused of torturing and murdering three Christian missionaries in 2007, after the suspects' time in detention while on trial exceeded new legal limits, local media said Saturday.

The men walked free from their high-security prison in the eastern city of Malatya on Friday, according to Dogan news agency.

In the 40 years since Marios Kouloumas saw his father led away by Turkish soldiers he has been unable to mourn him, even though he knows he's dead.

His father is one of hundreds of Greek and Turkish Cypriots who disappeared during a decade of unrest and whose fate remains an open wound across this divided Mediterranean island.

A Turkish court has freed five men accused of torturing and murdering three Christian missionaries in 2007, after the suspects' time in detention while on trial exceeded new legal limits, local media said Saturday.

The men walked free from their high-security prison in the eastern city of Malatya on Friday, according to Dogan news agency.

A Turkish court on Friday ordered the immediate release of ex-military chief Ilker Basbug who was sentenced to life in prison last year for plotting to overthrow the Islamic-rooted government, his lawyer said.

The decision came a day after Turkey's top Constitutional Court ruled that Basbug's legal rights had been violated, saying that a lower court had failed to publish its detailed verdict on the case and send it to the appeals court.

A United States warship crossed Turkey's Bosphorus Strait Friday, headed towards the Black Sea, as tensions simmer over Ukraine's Crimea region.

A coastguard boat was seen escorting the guided-missile destroyer, the USS Truxtun, an Agence France Presse photographer saw.

A Turkish court on Friday released a former informant accused of instigating the 2007 murder of ethnic Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, local media reported.

The release of Erhan Tuncel was made possible by a change in the country's anti-terrorism laws that reduced the maximum pre-trial detention period from 10 years to five years, Hurriyet newspaper said.

Turkey's constitutional court ruled Thursday that the legal rights of a former army chief jailed over an alleged coup plot had been violated, a decision that paves the way for his release.

The country's top court argued that a local tribunal had not "effectively examined" a release request by Ilker Basbug before rejecting it in January, a statement said.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he was ready to step down if his ruling party, in power since 2002, loses key local elections later this month.

"I am ready to quit politics unless my party emerges winner in the elections" scheduled for March 30, said Erdogan, who is battling a damaging corruption investigation which poses the greatest challenge yet to his 11 years in power.

Turkey's Islamic-rooted government has banned Danish director Lars Von Trier's controversial movie "Nymphomaniac" from theaters for its extensive nudity and no-holds-barred sex scenes, drawing accusations of censorship.

The film, which premiered to cheers at the Berlin film festival last month, was due to premiere in Turkey on March 14 with a warning against children under age 18 watching it.