Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday dismissed claims that a new constitution expanding his powers would install a "dictatorship."

"They say the presidential system would bring dictatorship. Is there dictatorship in the United States, Mexico or in Brazil?" Erdogan said in the western province of Canakkale.

Turkish police on Friday detained three people accused of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other top officials on Twitter, after raiding their homes.

The raids were the latest in a string of actions against critics of Erdogan on Twitter, as activists express growing alarm over the limits on freedom of expression in Turkey.

Syrian President Bashar Assad accused his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan of backing extremism as he met Tuesday with visiting Turkish opposition figures.

"Erdogan leads with a destructive policy that does not serve at all the interest of his people, by supporting takfiri (extremist Sunni) forces," state news agency SANA quoted Assad as saying. 

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan arrived Monday in Riyadh for a visit at the king's invitation in what is seen as a Saudi bid to unify Sunnis against Iran and jihadists.

Erdogan's meeting with King Salman comes a day after Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi held talks with the monarch, and precedes a visit by Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif later this week.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday mocked men who wear skirts, in an apparent jibe at activists who wore female clothes at the weekend in a protest supporting women's rights.

"They call themselves 'men'. What kind of men are they? Men wear trousers, why are you wearing skirts?" he said at a televised speech at his presidential palace in Ankara.

A former Miss Turkey beauty queen faces up to 4.5 years in prison on charges of insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the latest in a growing number of such cases, reports said Wednesday.

Turkish prosecutors said an investigation had been launched against model Merve Buyuksarac after Erdogan's lawyer lodged a complaint in November 2014 against a satirical poem taken from a magazine and posted on her Instagram site, state news agency Anatolia reported.

Turkish prosecutors on Friday launched an investigation into claims by pro-government media that the top foe of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had ordered the assassination of his daughter.

Pro-government dailies Star, Aksam and Gunes alleged on their front pages on Friday that the plot to assassinate 29-year-old Sumeyye Erdogan had been ordered by U.S.-based preacher Fethullah Gulen, whom the president accuses of seeking to overthrow him.

Turkey's ruling party on Wednesday struggled to push a hugely controversial bill boosting the powers of police against protesters through parliament, after tensions spilled over into fighting between MPs that left five deputies hurt.

The scuffles overnight Tuesday to Wednesday -- some of the worst seen in the national assembly in years -- saw MPs brandishing ceremonial gavels, exchanging punches and one deputy even dumped in a flowerbed.

Turkey has stepped up arrests of activists accused of personally insulting President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, detaining at least four people in the last four days on charges of slandering the Turkish strongman, reports said Tuesday

The opposition accuses the authorities of setting up a cult of personality around Erdogan, who moved to the presidency in August after over a decade as prime minister.

The Turkish parliament Tuesday was to start debating a contentious security bill boosting police powers which activists fear will create an effective police state under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

The so-called "homeland security reform" bill was submitted to parliament by the ruling Islamic-rooted Justice and Development Party (AKP) after deadly pro-Kurdish protests in October.