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HANGZHOU, China — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was silent Monday after reports that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan used the G20 to pointedly criticize U.S. President Barack Obama over his support for Kurdish troops fighting ISIL in Syria.

Trudeau didn’t respond to a question about whether similar concerns had been raised in his “pull aside” meeting with Erdogan on Sunday.

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Talks over the conflict in Syria and Iraq were heating up Monday as Russia and the U.S., both operating in the region, failed to reach a compromise on how to co-operate to end violence there.

More than 40 people were reported killed Monday as a series of deadly blasts hit government-held areas of Syria. ISIL claimed responsibility for the bombs, which allegedly targeted Kurdish troops.

Canada’s major contribution to the U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition in Iraq and Syria is the training of Kurdish forces.

Turkey has long waged its own battle against in the Kurdistan Workers’ Party, or PKK, a force seeking the establishment of an independent Kurdish state. Canada lists the PKK as a terrorist organization. The Iraqi Kurdish fighters Canada is training, who already operate a semi-autonomous regional government, have not made a secret of their own plans for self-determination.