in paris for the bastille day celebrations, mr trump said "something could happen" with respect to the international paris accord. six weeks ago, the us announced it would be withdrawing. president trump and chancellor merkel have led tributes to the political dissident and nobel peace laureate liu xiaobo, who has died in a chinese prison from liver cancer. his death has not been acknowledged by the government in beijing, which jailed him for 11 years for his campaign for democracy. an american doctor has told the high court in london there's a 10% chance he could improve the condition of the seriously ill baby charlie gard. ajudge is looking again at the case. doctors at great ormond street hospital don't believe his quality of life can be improved significantly. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk.

with me zeinab badawi, from istanbul, for this special edition. iamat i am at the presidential palace and my guest is the man inside, the president of turkey, whom coup plotters tried to remove from power exactly plotters tried to remove from power exa ctly o ne plotters tried to remove from power exactly one year ago. on the first anniversary of that failed coup, i asked him what his response is to critics who say he has used it as a pretext to purge all of his opponents. president recep tayyip erdogan, welcomed the hardtalk this time last year there was the failed coup. the country came together like never before. what has happened to

that spirit of unity? but that's the point. everybody came together. people of all ages, from different political persuasions, came out saying, we are for democracy, we are against the failed coup. but that spirit of unity has now gone and there are many critics inside the country and outside who say that you are using the failed coup as a pretext to clear all opposition against you. notjust the coup plotters. but we saw an unprecedented march from ankara to istanbul. its slogan was ‘law, rights, justice‘. the feeling is, or the strong belief, that you are really pursuing anybody who criticises you. it‘s a case of if you‘re not with me, you‘re against me. but that‘s the point i was making.

millions came out after the failed coup. now you see people coming out, marching in protest, which is why my original question to you was what has happened to that spirit of unity? i want to ask you specifically about the fact that journalists feel that they are not able to speak out openly, that the first thing, and secondly we‘ve got to the stage where turkey locks up more journalists than any other country in the world. in the last year with scene 160 media outlets close down, we seem to scene 160 media outlets close down, we seem to govern scene 160 media outlets close down, we seem to govern 500 journalists or media workers sacked from their jobs, you have 150 journalists in prison, which accounts for a third of all journalists prison, which accounts for a third of alljournalists in prison globally. what is it that makes you fear freedom of speech? it was reporters without borderes... right, well, as i said, the figure

is from reporters without borders and there have been many people, european leaders and critics within the country, who have said that if the country, who have said that if the state of affairs. you have given your answer. now we have nearly 200,000 turkish citizens who are either detained, sucked or suspended from theirjobs. either detained, sucked or suspended from their jobs. politicians, academics, journalists, we mentioned, following the failed coup. i want to ask you this. while you are waiting to see whether the courts find them guilty or not, how are they going to survive if they‘ve lost theirjobs? are they going to survive if they‘ve lost their jobs? they also are they going to survive if they‘ve lost theirjobs? they also have dependents, they have elderly relatives, children. what happens to these people withoutjobs? i was just i wasjust ask... but those who were sacked and suspended from theirjobs, mr president, how are they expected to

survive? does the turkish government provided with social security payments? because they have been stripped of their livelihoods. what happens to their families if they can‘t work again? you mentioned the fact that you say that they are guilty of being coup plotters, therefore they are supporters of the us —based cleric living in pennsylvania, you have asked the us for his extradition. you had a meeting with president donald trump not that long ago. what did he say to you about extraditing him, who denies involvement in the coup? relations with the european union are relations with the european union a re pretty relations with the european union are pretty much at an all—time low between turkey and the eu, in particular germany. what exactly is the problem between you and chancellor angela merkel? do you personally believe that turkey is better in or out of the european union? what is your personal opinion? mr president, it sounds like you are

saying you personally believe turkey would be better out of the eu. or, not... what about the united kingdom? because the foreign secretary boris johnson of course has turkish a ncestry johnson of course has turkish ancestry and he wrote very rude: about you. has he apologised about that and has that incident in any way damaged uk— turkish ties? no, iwasjust...! no, i wasjust...! i wasjust asking

if he perhaps apologised to you for having a schleck did he apologise? talking about the united kingdom of course, post— brexit, your prime minister has said in talks that he had with theresa may, the british prime minister, in february but after britain leads the united union any bilateral deal, trade deal, between turkey and the united kingdom would have to be based on the fact that there would have to be freedom of movement for turkish citizens between the uk and turkey, if there is to be a bilateral deal, thatis if there is to be a bilateral deal, that is the condition. is that the case? but will you say, as your prime minister has stated, that it is a condition of any bilateral trade agreement between turkey and the uk post— brexit that there has to be freedom of movement for turkish citizens? so it‘s an objective? turkey is a

really pivotal nation. in that you have the second—biggest army in nato and when it comes to this neighbourhood, the middle east, it‘s a very, very tough on anti— plate he rolled and given the tensions between qatar and four other arab states, and one of the conditions that have been put on tata is that the turkish military base be closed, gives a more military personnel so it‘s simple question really, do you think there is a danger that the tensions could escalate into something militaristic and what would be your response? would you be a party to such a conflict if it happened? you mentioned syria and of course the talks going on in geneva to try to see if there is any way forward

on syria. is there a future for president al—assad for any shape or form in the transition or otherwise, is there a future for him? i think it‘s about 600,000. what about...? i think it‘s about 600,000. what about... ? what about the i think it‘s about 600,000. what about...? what about the pkk which is of course at organisation as far as the united states, the european union and of course turkey is concerned. what is the possibility of seeing the start to a process

that could bring about a resolution? and finally and very briefly, the referendum on constitutional changes means that if you wish you could stand for presidential elections in 2019 for two five—year terms which means if you when you could be in power until 2029, are you going to be running for president in 2019, possibly after that? president erdogan of turkey, thank

you very much indeed for coming on hardtalk. thank you. hello there. with the weekend fast approaching, please don‘t make this the last forecast that you see. we‘ll be fine—tuning the details because we will have some weather fronts around. but one thing‘s for sure, it won‘t be as hot as it‘s been in spain. during the day on thursday we had record—breaking heat. friday looks just as hot and although then temperatures may ease a little, the heat will be sustained. for ourselves, the day ahead looks mainly dry.

it‘ll feel quite warm and there‘ll be some sunshine as well but we have had a weather front making its way southwards and eastwards through the night, tending to fizzle out, but initially there‘s some quite heavy rain on it. it does mean that although it will be another comfortable night, it won‘t be quite as chilly to start this morning as it was yesterday morning. and there could still be the odd light passing shower around. you can see those across the north isles for example, one or two following across the north—west, feeling a little bit fresher here. quite cool in the glens of scotland to start the day but some good spells of sunshine to start the day, as there will be in northern ireland, and i think with lighter winds, the temperatures will respond to the sunshine as we go through the day. still quite a breeze in northern areas, still the odd passing shower in the south with quite a bit of cloud first thing. it may well be that compared with yesterday we see the best of the sunshine actually through the afternoon as that weather system clears out of the way. we get that brisk north—westerly coming down behind it, feels a bit fresher. we start to see some good spells of sunshine coming

through across most mainland uk until later when we‘ve got the next weather front knocking on the door of northern ireland and western scotland, but i think feeling a little bit warmerfor some in the north particularly compared with yesterday and it looks set fairfor wimbledon. yes, a lot of cloud initially first thing but it‘s men‘s semi—final day and we should get a mostly dry day. very unlucky if you catch a passing shower here. however, through the evening and overnight you can see further north the first pulse of rain comes in. that steady south—westerly keeps throwing these further wriggles on our weather front if you like, further enhancements of the rain across the north and west into saturday. with the influence of high pressure in the south, there won‘t be that much rain but certainly there will be more cloud and an increasingly humid feel on saturday, so many areas have quite a bit of rain initially and it keeps going across western up slopes of scotland and northern ireland, but elsewhere we‘ll see some brighter spells developing into the afternoon. it‘ll feel quite warm in the brightness. then through saturday evening and overnight, that weather front starts to meander its way southwards and as it does so it tends to fizzle out but it does mean a lot more cloud.

to the south we could have some really warm sunshine breaking through and a brighter day to the north as well and with just the odd passing blustery shower, but again quite a bit of cloud. bye— bye. this is bbc news. i‘m james menendez. our top stories: as president trump prepares to celebrate bastille day in france, he hints he may change his position on the paris climate deal. thousands are expected to line the champs elysees, but will the american president receive a warm or frosty reception? we‘ve a special report from lebanon, as the country struggles to educate thousands of children fleeing the war in syria. in the business news, banking on better times. wall street giants have been getting a bump from trump, but can it last? just the three

wheels of fortune. they have conquered asia and are now heading to africa. the unstoppable rise of the tuk tuk.