The France Judicial Union has sent a mail to French President Emmanuel Macron, who is going to host Turkish autocratic President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Friday, and urged him to require the release of jailed lawyer Murat Arslan, the president of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV) and his colleagues, ask for the presence of observers in future trials, the publication of the report of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture on Thursday. Erdogan, who was in Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron as part of efforts to improve his government's strained relationship with Europe, said Turkey won't wait forever. "We cannot continuously ask the EU, 'please take us, too' now," Erdogan said during a joint news conference, accusing the bloc of leaving Turkey "waiting outside the door" of the bloc for decades. Ties between Turkey and Europe deteriorated last year after authorities in several countries prevented Turkish government ministers from holding political rallies to court expatriates' votes in a referendum to expand the president's powers. Macron said the two leaders held 'frank' talks on Turkey's bid for EU membership and the human rights situation in Turkey - a major sticking point. 'We should ... see if we cannot rethink this relationship, not in the framework of the (EU) integration process, but perhaps a cooperation, a partnership,' he said, adding the main goal must be to keep Turkey - a NATO member - 'anchored' in Europe and its 'future ... built looking toward Europe and with Europe.' To become a key player regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, France's young leader will take more independent steps than his European colleagues. France and Turkish officials also signed defense, banking and commercial deals, including the planned sale of 25 Airbus A330s to Turkish Airlines. A number of EU member states has condemned the Turkish government's arrests and purges of tens of thousands of people after a failed coup attempt in July 2016. About 50,000 people have been arrested and 110,000 others removed from public sector jobs in Turkey. Protests over deteriorating press freedoms and human rights abuses in Turkey greeted Mr Erdogan upon his arrival. About 30 activists from watchdog group Reporters without Borders held images of jailed journalists outside the Turkish Embassy. A dozen demonstrators, mainly ethnic Kurds, later tried to reach the presidential Elysee palace, but police pushed them back onto a side street. The French Communist Party and several left-wing parties have criticised Mr Erdogan's visit to France, which came the day before the fifth anniversary of the killings in Paris of three Kurdish women activists. "The French judicial system had pointed out Turkish secret services' involvement in this crime," the Communist Party said in a statement. Mr Macron said he raised the issues of media freedom and fundamental human rights with Mr Erdogan, giving the Turkish leader a list of journalists and non-governmental workers he thinks were wrongly targeted during the post-coup crackdown. "We will find concrete and real solutions that will allow the few cases to be settled, and to settle what has sometimes been a misunderstanding, a harmful misunderstanding," Mr Macron said. Mr Erdogan responded that some "columnists and opinion leaders are the gardeners of terrorism".
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says he is "tired" of waiting for the European Union to approve Turkey's membership in the political union.