Ankara // British prime minister Theresa May urged Turkey to respect human rights in its crackdown following a failed coup last year as she made her first visit to the country on Saturday.
Mrs May held three hours of talks with president Recep Tayyip Erdogan after travelling to Ankara from a meeting with the new US president Donald Trump in Washington.
She said after the talks that she was proud Britain had stood with Turkey's democratically elected government during the July 15 coup attempt.
But she added: "Now it is important that Turkey sustains that democracy by maintaining the rule of law and upholding its international human rights obligations, as the government has undertaken to do."
About 43,000 people are under arrest on charges of links to the coup bid, which Ankara blames on the US-based preacher Fethullah Gulen. He denies the charges.
The British prime minister sought to strike a delicate balance between echoing western concerns over the scale of Turkey's crackdown and seeking greater economic ties as her country prepares to leave the European Union.
She announced the creation of a joint group to "prepare the ground for our post-Brexit trading relationship" and also oversaw the signing of a deal for Britain's BAE Systems to develop Turkey's new TF-X fighter jet in partnership with state-owned Turkish Aerospace Industries.
The prime minister's office said the agreement would initially be worth £100 million (Dh460m) could pave the way for further deals potentially worth billions of pounds over a 20-year span.
"We both want to build on our existing links and I believe that doing so will be to the benefit of both of our countries and for the prosperity of both our nations," Mrs May said.
Mr Erdogan said the two sides were targeting increasing annual trade from $15 billion (Dh55bn) to $20 billion.
Mr Erdogan and Mrs May also discussed the battle against extremists in Syria and efforts to reunify Cyprus, where both Ankara and London are guarantor powers, as well as aviation security.
"I am pleased with the steps we have taken and I believe in the continuation of this success in the future," Mr Erdogan said.
Turkish prime minister Binali Yildrim later announced that Turkey and the UK planned to sign a free-trade deal once Britain left the European Union. Mrs May has said her government will trigger Britain's exit from the EU in March and the process is expected to take at least two years.
The British prime minister's visit to Ankara was seen as the first by a major western leader since the coup attempt, although then US vice president Joe Biden held talks with Mr Erdogan in August.
Back in the UK, some MPs have urged Mrs May not to let her focus on trade overshadow human rights concerns over the crackdown in Turkey.
"The Conservative Brexit government is so desperate for trade deals with anyone but the mature democracies of the European Union that even the most unsavoury rulers are to be subjected to the prime ministerial charm," opposition Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Olney wrote in the Guardian newspaper.
* Agence France-Presse
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