Turkey's Erdogan won't discuss Syrian ceasefire with Pence

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday he will not discuss Syrian ceasefire talks with U.S. Vice President Mike Pence and vowed to continue his country's military excursion into Syria, which observers have already linked to war crimes.

The Trump administration recently slapped tariffs on Turkey in response to the Turkish military invading Syria and attacking the Kurds, a regional ethnic group that fought alongside the U.S. against ISIS at heavy cost.

Trump recently withdrew U.S. forces from Syria but has denied this move gave Erdogan a "green light" to attack the Kurds, which his government considers a terror group.

Pence on Tuesday said Trump is "very concerned about instability in the region," and that the U.S. is "simply not going to tolerate Turkey's invasion of Syria any longer."

"I'm not going to talk to them," Erdogan said through a translator to Sky News. "When Trump comes here, I'll be talking to him," he continued.

The U.S. and Turkey are NATO allies but are on different sides of the Syria conflict.

Trump has threatened to "obliterate" Turkey's economy with sanctions. The Turkish lira has proven vulnerable to U.S. sanctions in the past, and European Union countries are expected to join in sanctioning Erdogan over the Syrian invasion.