Referendum Could Lead to More Power for Erdogan.
SESAY: Referendum is set for Sunday in Turkey. Voters could approve radical changes to the constitution which would add sweeping powers to this man, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. If Turkey backs the yes vote its parliamentary system turns into a presidential one. Mr. Erdogan's critics charged he's eroding democracy but he still has many supporters especially in Turkey's heart. Our own Becky Anderson traveled there to file this report.</s>BECKY ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Witness a city waking up -- Ankara, a metropolis and Turkey's political nerve center. Just like in the U.S. and the U.K. to really understand the political realities of a vast country like this, you've got to get out of the big cities like Ankara and Istanbul and into the rural heartland which is why today I'm taking the train to the ancient city of Konya in Anatolia. This high-speed rail service launched just a couple of years ago is a good example of Erdogan's landscape-changing infrastructure projects -- roads, rail ways, airports, canals -- which help him shore up his base amongst Turkey's burgeoning middle class. New transport links have not only made the country easier to navigate. They also serve a political purpose. Built over the last 15 years, they link Turkey's major hubs to its once forgotten rural cities. Erdogan's investments in infrastructure, super charging businesses whilst boosting his popularity in a city like Konya.</s>TAHIR AKYUREK, MAYOR OF KONYA (through translator): Konya is usually supportive of the AK Party and President Erdogan. That's why we're preparing this beautiful gift for him ahead of his arrival.</s>ANDERSON: Tahir Akyurek is the mayor. He has come to check on preparations for the President's upcoming visit, a campaign rally just days before a referendum that could consolidate even more power in Erdogan's hands.</s>AKYUREK: I was born in a small village just outside Konya. The city has seen enormous development over the past 15 years. Today it's a leader in education, industry and agriculture. None of that would have been possible without the government's support.</s>ANDERSON: That's a view shared by Taha Buyukhelvacigil (ph). He's the fourth generation of a family-owned conglomerate that's reaped the benefits of government support and investment over the past decade and a half.</s>TAHA BUYUKHELVACIGIL, ZADE VITAL: In the last ten years our workers will be the numbers of -- it will be 300 nowadays it will be 400 people that work with us. And 50 percent (inaudible) R&D people. They will be working for just for</s>R&D. ANDERSON: And those R&D employees.</s>BUYUKHELVACIGIL: Yes.</s>ANDERSON: As a result of the incentives that the government has provided --</s>BUYUKHELVACIGIL: Yes.</s>ANDERSON: -- to a business like yours to innovate, correct.</s>BUYUKHELVACIGIL: Yes. That's also why we need them.</s>ANDERSON: Taha's company once only produced food products but now it's become a leader in cutting edge pharmaceuticals. Businesses like his have transformed Konya's economy from almost wholly agrarian to a center of industry. But despite the progress, Konya remains a city rooted in its past. A past that comes to life in the court yard of the Sufi poet (inaudible) as a troop of whirling dervishes perform their spiritual dance. The swirling and spinning symbolizing some might say the many twists and turns of modern Turkish politics. Becky Anderson, CNN -- Konya.</s>SESAY: Now U.S. intelligence agencies weren't the only ones to uncover contacts between the Trump camp and Russia. We're now learning British and European intel services also intercepted communications and passed that information on to the U.S. Details ahead.