British foreign secretary Boris Johnson his indicated that the UK will help Turkey join the EU - and praised his 'beautiful' Turkish washing machine.

Mr Johnson was speaking during his first trip to the country as the UK's foreign secretary. The visit comes more than two months after the failed coup attempt in Turkey.

In a news conference with Turkey's EU affairs minister Omer Celik, AFP reports that Mr Johnson said: "We may be leaving the European Union but we are not leaving Europe. And Britain... will help Turkey in any way."

He also had particularly positive comments about a particular Turkish appliance.

"We are lucky in the United Kingdom to be one of the biggest recipients of Turkish goods, I think I'm right in saying," Mr Johnson suggested.

"I certainly am the proud possessor of a beautiful, very well-functioning Turkish washing machine."

Concerns had been raised about potential difficulties between London and Ankara following Mr Johnson's appointment as foreign secretary by Theresa May.

Earlier this year, Mr Johnson won £1,000 in The Spectator magazine's 'President Erdogan Offensive Poetry' competition, in which he described Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan having sex with a goat.

According to Reuters, Mr Johnson told reporters that the poem "has not come up at all" during his "very detailed conversations" in Ankara.

He added that he is hoping Britain can achieve a "jumbo" free trade deal with Turkey.