President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (Photo: IC)

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday said Turkey would "clear terrorists" on its border in northern Syria if Syrian Kurdish militia did not withdraw by the end of a deadline agreed with Russia.

"If the terrorists are not cleared at the end of the 150 hours, we will take control and clean it ourselves," Erdogan said during a televised speech in Istanbul, referring to the YPG militia viewed as a "terrorist" offshoot of Kurdish insurgents in Turkey.