Istanbul residents commemorated the victims of major attacks that hit Turkey in 2016, hours before the New Year's Eve celebrations.

Around 200 people sang the national anthem and prayed for the victims near the Vodafone Arena, at the site of the December twin bombings that killed 45 people, most of them police officers.

Security measures were heightened in major Turkish cities.

In Istanbul, 17,000 police officers were on duty, some camouflaged as Santa Claus and others as street vendors, Turkey's state-run Anadolu news agency reported on Friday.

Ankara and Istanbul were targeted by numerous bomb attacks in 2016, killing more than 180 people.

Istanbul - 31 December 2016

++NIGHT SHOTS++

1. People commemorating the victims of previous attacks at the site of the December twin bombings that killed 45 people, near Istanbul's Vodafone Arena

2. Various of prayers near the scene of the attack

3. People holding Turkish flags near Vodafone Arena Stadium

4. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Murat Manoglu, 38, Istanbul resident:

"I hope 2017 won't be like 2016. We lived through terrible days, we have lost many martyrs, many households suffered. If God permits, the New Year won't be like the past year."

5. People with umbrellas, holding torches

6. Wide of people holding Turkish flags in front of large screen

7. SOUNDBITE (Turkish) Kiymet Cimbirtoglu, 34, Istanbul resident:

"If God permits, we won't live through the same again. I wish health and peace for our country and our nation."

8. Various of people holding Turkish flags

9. Ambulances and a water canon near the scene