Turkey's deputy prime minister says his country is "displeased" with the support the United States provides Syrian Kurdish fighters who are linked to Turkey's Kurdish rebels.

Numan Kurtulmus also said Thursday that Ankara hopes that the new U.S. president will keep his or her distance from the militia and strive to maintain good ties with NATO ally Turkey.

Kurtulmus told reporters: "whoever comes next to the U.S. presidency" understands the importance of maintaining ties with "a key regional country like Turkey and not an armed terrorist organization with a few thousand militants."

Ankara views the Syrian Kurdish militia and its political wing as an extension of Turkey's own banned Kurdish independence movement.