Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Recep Tayyip ErdoganReuters

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Tuesday to thwart any possibility of a Kurdish state being established in northern Syria.

"We will not allow the People's Protection Units (YPG) and the Democratic Union Party to establish what is called a state in northern Syria," Erdogan declared. "They want to establish a transit zone for terror in northern Syria that will reach the Mediterranean."

Iran and Turkey have been holding contacts in order to coordinate activities against the "terrorist organizations" operating in the two countries, where there is a large Kurdish minority that is denied the right to self-determination.

Turkey regards the Kurdish minority as a threat and describes the armed Kurdish organizations as terrorist organizations.

That point of view is contradictory to that of the U.S., which sees the YPG as a key ally in its fight against ISIS in Syria.

Erdogan has repeatedly expressed his anger over U.S. support for the YPG, accusing the West of backing "terror groups".