Police shoot tractor driver crashing into cars near Turkey's parliament

Turkish media say police opened fire on a tractor that was travelling in front of Turkey's parliament building and after its driver ignored calls to stop.

The Cumhuriyet newspaper said the tractor was travelling on a main boulevard in the centre of Ankara on Tuesday and that police guarding parliament called on its driver to stop.

It was not clear why the tractor was driving in the city centre.

Private NTV television said the man was shot in the leg and was being questioned by police.

The 45-year-old driver gave a police statement saying he planned to drive to the Israeli embassy in the Turkish capital and stage a protest, according to state-controlled Anadolu news agency.

However this report was not immediately verified, with an Israeli official telling Reuters he believed the incident was not linked to the Israeli mission.

"To the best of our knowledge this has nothing to do with the embassy. He was on his way to demonstrate outside a [Turkish] government ministry. The incident happened near the ambassador's residence, and not the embassy."

Pictures of the scene emerged on social media, showing a number of crushed cars and the driver lying handcuffed beside the tractor.

The Ankara governor's office said in a statement that the incident was being investigated but officials could find no links to terror.

The office did not mention the planned protest and the incident took place near the Israeli ambassador's residence in Ankara, not the embassy.

Relations between Israel and Turkey, one of the Jewish state's few key Muslim partners, have been strained this year.

In May, Ankara ordered Israel's ambassador to leave over the killing of protesters along the border with the Gaza Strip.