Erdogan's grip on Turkey tightens as he retakes control of ruling party

Ankara

TURKEY'S President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday took back control of the ruling party he founded, a step that gives the nation's most powerful man additional authority to appoint loyalists to parliament lists and party posts across the nation.

Just a month after a vote approved transferring Turkey's centre of political power to the presidency from parliament, the AK Party's leadership and tens of thousands of party faithful convened to anoint Mr Erdogan at an extraordinary congress in Ankara. The referendum's result allowed the president, until then constitutionally an impartial head of state, to be a member or leader of a political party.