Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Wednesday launched a new attack on the European Union over its condemnation of raids on opposition media, saying that Brussels had no right to give Ankara a "democracy lesson".

"They say they will give a democracy lesson to Turkey. Take the trouble to come here, so that Turkey can give you a lesson in democracy," a combative Erdogan said in a speech in the Anatolian city of Konya.

Thirty-five supporters of Turkish top-flight football side Besiktas went on trial Tuesday in a hugely controversial case on charges of seeking to overthrow the authorities led by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2013 protests.

Hundreds of Besiktas supporters surrounded the Istanbul criminal court as the trial opened, shouting football chants backing the accused who are all members of the club's main fan club, the Carsi Group.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan Monday told the European Union to "mind its own business", in a blistering attack against the bloc over criticism by EU officials of police raids against opposition media.

Turkey has come under fire over the arrests Sunday of over two dozen journalists, television producers, police and even TV drama scriptwriters linked to U.S.-based cleric Fethullah Gulen who has emerged as Erdogan's arch-foe.

Turkish police on Sunday arrested the editor of the country's biggest selling newspaper and at least two dozen other media figures in a new crackdown on supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's exiled rival, Fethullah Gulen.

Turkish police on Sunday launched a sweeping operation to arrest dozens of supporters of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's rival, U.S.-exiled imam Fethullah Gulen, including a raid on the offices of the Zaman daily, which is close to the cleric. 

The operation came just two days after Erdogan signalled a new crackdown against the supporters of Gulen, who Erdogan blamed for orchestrating a corruption probe almost exactly a year ago against members of his inner circle. 

Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan vowed on Monday to make lessons in the Arabic-alphabet Ottoman language compulsory in high schools -- a highly symbolic move which enraged secularists who claim he is pursuing an increasingly Islamist agenda.

Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, the founder of modern Turkey, abolished the Ottoman language in 1928, replacing its Arabic alphabet with a Latin one.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday criticized Egypt's military rulers for having Interpol issue an arrest warrant for a Muslim scholar.

Islamist scholar Sheikh Youssef al-Qaradawi, whose fiery sermons have caused tensions with Cairo's military rulers, is a strong supporter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

President Vladimir Putin on Monday unexpectedly announced Russia was shelving the multi-billion dollar South Stream pipeline project to deliver Russian gas to the Europe, blaming the EU for throwing obstacles in its path.

Putin revealed on a visit to Ankara that Russia was drawing the curtain on what for half-a-decade has been one of the Kremlin's flagship projects, saying Turkey in the future could play an important role as a gas hub.

Pope Francis and Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I on Sunday made a joint pledge to support Christians in the Middle East, saying they could not let Christianity be driven out of the region.

"We cannot resign ourselves to a Middle East without Christians, who have professed the name of Jesus there for two thousand years," the two Church leaders said in a joint declaration.

Turkish police on Saturday forcefully broke up a student protest close to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's new presidential palace, with one policeman punching a student, reports said.

Video footage showed police, wearing body armor, using pepper spray to break up the protest over the Turkish tuition system as the students tried to march towards the palace in Ankara.