Trump speaks with Turkey's leader about 'bringing peace to the mess' in Middle East

President Trump discussed the path forward in Syria in a phone call with his Turkish counterpart, including what the Turks described as a plan to stop U.S. from going to Kurdish fighters inside the war-torn country. 

Trump and Turkey's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan "underscored the need to end the humanitarian crisis, allow displaced Syrians to return home, and ensure the stability of a unified Syria free of malign intervention and terrorist safe havens," the White House said in a statement. 

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara that Trump said that in the call the U.S. would no longer supply arms to Syrian Kurdish fighters that Erdogan regards as terrorists.

The White House statement did not specifically refer to the Kurds, saying only that Trump informed Erdogan "of pending adjustments to the military support provided to our partners on the ground in Syria, now that the battle of Raqqa is complete" and Islamic State militants are on the run.

Erdogan has long protested U.S. aid to Kurdish fighters in Syria, claiming they are an extension of militant groups that have waged a decades-long insurgency inside Turkey. The Turkish government has also expressed concern about Kurdish desires to set up an independent state within Iraq, a new country that would border Turkey.

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The Kurds say Turkey has been trying to suppress them.

The Trump-Erdogan call came as Turkey, Russia, and Iran work on a plan to reach a political settlement to the civil war in Syria. Trump spoke last week with Russian President Vladimir Putin before he left for his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Fla., where he spent Thanksgiving.

More:President Trump, Vladimir Putin hold phone call on North Korea, Syria, other security issues

In announcing his plan to speak with Erdogan earlier Friday, Trump also took shots at his presidential predecessors.

"Will be speaking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey this morning about bringing peace to the mess that I inherited in the Middle East," Trump said. "I will get it all done, but what a mistake, in lives and dollars (6 trillion), to be there in the first place!"

Trump has used the $6 trillion figure before to describe the costs of U.S. involvement in Middle East conflicts, but has never specified how he arrives at that amount. 

In September, Trump praised Erdogan as a "friend" during a meeting on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, despite global criticism of his increasingly authoritarian rule in Turkey. Just before that meeting, the U.S. protested a physical attack on protestors at the Turkish ambassador's residence in Washington, D.C.

The Trump-Erdogan phone call also comes after reports that special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating Trump's former national security adviser Michael Flynn and his son's alleged plan to forcibly remove a Muslim cleric from the United States and deliver him to Turkey. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, Flynn and his son Michael Flynn Jr. were allegedly were involved in a plan to deliver Fethullah Gulen to the Turkish government, which views Gulen as a political enemy and has pressed the U.S. for his extradition. 

More:Report: Mueller probes Michael Flynn's role in alleged plot to hand over Fethullah Gulen to Turkey

Flynn — who was forced out of his White House job this year after revelations that he had misled officials about his conversations with the Russian ambassador — reportedly discussed the plan with Turkish government representatives last December. The meeting caught the attention of FBI, who have questioned at least four people about it, according to the Journal.

Flynn's lawyers have denied the allegations, but extraditing Gulen is a major priority for Erdogan. Earlier this year, Erdogan pressed Trump to send back the religious leader his government blames for an attempted coup last year and now lives in exile in Pennsylvania.

The Turkish government alleges Gulen and his followers are using a network of publicly funded charter schools to support revolution that would put his supporters in power in Turkey.

Documents Flynn filed earlier this year with the Justice Department raised fresh questions about his other ties to the Turkish government, even as he was serving as top adviser to Trump's presidential campaign – including including $530,000 in earnings from a Dutch firm with ties to the Turkish government. 

In another tweet on Friday, the president said he would follow up the Turkey phone call by visiting Trump National Golf Club – "quickly" – for a round with pro golf stars Dustin Johnson and Tiger Woods. "Then back to Mar-a-Lago for talks on bringing even more jobs and companies back to the USA!" 

Trump's pledge to play a "quick" game comes as Trump's critics mock him for the amount of time he spends on the golf course, just as Trump took aim at predecessor Barack Obama for his golf game.

Contributing: Jessica Estepa