UPDATE - Erdogan meets US president at G20 summit in Germany

UPDATES WITH COMMENT BY US SOURCES AND EDITS THROUGHOUT

By Ayhan Simsek

HAMBURG, Germany (AA) - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan met his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump Saturday on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

The two leaders held a nearly half hour meeting before the closing session of the G20 summit, Turkish officials said without giving more details.

White House sources said the two leaders discussed the situation in Syria during their meeting.

Erdogan also had a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday morning; the two leaders discussed the conflict in Syria and other regional issues.

Speaking at a news conference in Hamburg after the G20 summit, Erdogan underlined that Turkey would not tolerate the formation of a new entity in northern Syria controlled by the terrorist group PKK and its Syrian offshoot PYD/YPG.

He also spoke against the U.S. arming PYD/YPG terror groups in Syria in order to combat Daesh in Raqqah.

“We will never keep silent when support and arms are provided to terrorist organizations near our borders,” Erdogan said.

The two-day summit of world’s 20 major economies (G20) ended with participating states pledging stronger international efforts in combatting terrorism.

The summit hosted by Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel had focused on international problems, fight against terrorism, global economy and climate change.