President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Sunday that threats of sanctions and arms embargoes by western powers would not stop Turkey's military offensive against Kurdish militants in Syria.   

"After we launched our operation, we have faced threats like economic sanctions and embargoes on weapons sales. Those who think they can make Turkey turn back with these threats are gravely mistaken," Erdogan said in a televised speech. 

France and Germany said Saturday that they were suspending arms exports to Turkey over its offensive in Syria against the Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG).  

Erdogan said he spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel by phone on Wednesday and raised the issue of the arms embargo. 

"I told her to explain it to me. Are we really allies at the heart of NATO, or has the terrorist group (the YPG) been accepted into NATO without my being informed?" he said. He also rejected the idea of any mediation between Turkey and the YPG.  "When did you see a state sit at the same table with a terror group?" he said. 

Merkel "spoke in favor for an immediate end to the military operation," the chancellor's office said in a statement. The operation threatens to drive large parts of the population from their homes, she said, noting that it would also risk "destabilization of the region and lead to a resurgence of the IS(ISIL)."

Turkey sees the YPG as a terrorist off-shoot of Kurdish rebels in its own territory, but Western powers used the Kurdish forces as the main ground force against ISIL.   

Erdogan said Turkey's military and its Syrian rebel allies will advance 30-35 km into Syrian territory in their offensive against Kurdish militia and they now controlled the border town of Ras al-Ain while Tal Abyad was being besieged from two directions. 

Tel Abyad is a town on the Syrian border and one of the main focal points of the Turkish offensive that began on Wednesday against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces. 

Thousands of people, some shouting "Erdogan terrorist," took to the streets of Paris and other European cities on Saturday in protest at the Turkish assault on Kurds in Syria.