Turkey will find it “comforting” if the EU says it cannot be accepted as a member, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told the BBC.

He said Turkey was “able to stand on its own two feet.”

He also denied the country had jailed 150 journalists, saying only two people with press cards were in prison.

“If the EU, bluntly says, ‘We will not be able to accept Turkey into the EU’ this will be comforting for us…” Mr Erdogan told the BBC.

“The European Union is not indispensable for us… We are relaxed.”

Mr Erdogan said the majority of Turks did not “want the EU anymore” and believed its approach to Turkey was “insincere.”

“Despite all this we will continue being sincere with the EU for a little more time,” he added.