ANKARA (Reuters) -Tayyip Erdogan's main political opponents have faced an unprecedented crackdown that has seen more than 500 detained in just nine months, according to a Reuters review of a sprawling investigation that has accelerated dramatically in recent days.

The Turkish lira was in free fall, inflation was soaring, and economists were warning of a full-scale financial crisis. But instead of raising interest rates like most countries do to fight inflation,

When Turkey applied to join the BRICS alliance last year, Western countries and investors were surprised. The reason for the surprise is Turkey being a part of NATO. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said publicly many times that he wants BRICS membership for Turkey.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan appointed on Thursday a new communications director, Burhanettin Duran, a deputy foreign minister who will take up a role aimed at keeping a tight leash on the mostly pro-government media.

U.S. Sen. James Risch, R-Idaho, said he will continue blocking indefinitely the transfer of Lockheed Martin F-35s purchased by Turkey during a July 9 hearing.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan spent years pushing a grand vision. A neo-Ottoman revival. A stronger Turkey, which is independent of the West. But in the halls of BRICS diplomacy, that vision fell apart.

Cyprus said on Monday it would invite arch-foe Turkey to a summit during its European Union presidency next year despite a decades-long rift over Ankara's 1974 invasion and its backing of a breakaway state on the divided island.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has dismissed his long-serving head of communications in a surprise move, a decree published in the government gazette showed on Thursday. Altun, who had headed the presidential communications directorate since 2018,