Trump Talks Syria Security Zone with Erdogan, Asks Him Not to 'Mistreat' Kurds

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump mooted the creation of a "security zone" in Syria, in a telephone conversation Monday, the Turkish presidency said.

The two leaders "discussed the idea of creating a security zone cleared of terrorism in the north of the country," it said in a statement.

The White House meanwhile said that Trump warned his Turkish counterpart against harming Kurdish military units that have been closely allied to U.S. forces in Syria.

"The President expressed the desire to work together to address Turkey's security concerns in northeast Syria while stressing the importance to the United States that Turkey does not mistreat the Kurds and other Syrian Democratic Forces with whom we have fought to defeat ISIS," White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

U.S. forces are set to depart from Syria where they worked closely with the Kurdish People's Protection Units, or YPG, which Turkey considers to have terrorism links.