ANKARA - An earthquake measuring 4.8 on the open-ended Richter scale rocked the southeastern Turkish province of Bitlis early Sunday, but there were no immediate reports of casualties, officials said.
The epicenter of the tremor, which struck at 6:48 am (0348 GMT), was the village of Saginli, about 1,100 kilomters (680 miles) southeast of Ankara, seismologists said.
There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties, Bitlis Governor Asim Hacimustafaoglu told the Anatolia news agency.
Earthquakes are frequent in Turkey, which is crossed by several major fault lines. Some 20,000 people died in two massive tremors in the heavily industrialized northwest in August and November 1999.
05/21/2006 09:52 GMT