President Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman said on Monday Turkey expected the United States to honor their strategic partnership after US President Donald Trump warned it would "devastate Turkey economically" if they attack a Kurdish militia in Syria.

 

Relations between the two NATO allies have been strained over US backing for the Kurdish YPG, which Turkey views as an extension of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) that is waging a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.

 

Trump tweeted earlier about the United States starting its pullout from Syria, while hitting the remaining Islamic State fighters there.

 

“Will attack again from existing nearby base if it reforms. Will devastate Turkey economically if they hit Kurds. Create 20 mile safe zone...Likewise, do not want the Kurds to provoke Turkey,” Trump wrote.

 

The Kurdish YPG has been a US ally in the fight against ISIS and it controls swaths of northern Syria. Erdogan has vowed to crush it in the wake of Trump’s decision to pull US troops out of the region.