"I didn't give Tayyip Erdogan a green light," Donald Trump said. (Reuters)

President Donald Trump denied on Wednesday that he had given Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan a "green light" to launch operations against Kurdish terrorists in Syria.

"President Erdogan's decision didn't surprise me because he's wanted to do that for a long time," Trump told reporters. "He's been building up troops on the border with Syria for a long time.

"I didn't give him a green light," Trump said. "Just the opposite of a green light."