Trump says Turkey holds the key to Syria's future

By Jeff Mason

PALM BEACH, Florida (Reuters) - U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said on Monday that Turkey will "hold the key" to what happens in Syria, where rebels backed by Ankara toppled the government of Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Making his first comments on how he views the NATO ally's role in post-conflict Syria, Trump praised what he described as Turkey's "major military force" that he said "has not been worn out with war."

By supporting the rebels, "Turkey did an unfriendly takeover without a lot of lives being lost," Trump told a press conference at his residence in Palm Beach, Florida.

"Right now, Syria has a lot of, you know, there's a lot of indefinites ... I think Turkey is going to hold the key to Syria," Trump said.

Turkey, which controls swathes of land in northern Syria after several cross-border incursions against the Syrian Kurdish YPG militia, was a main backer of opposition groups aiming to topple Assad, who was backed by Iran and Russia, since the outbreak of the civil war in 2011.

Since Assad's ouster, Washington and Ankara have held talks on countering any resurgence of Islamic State militants in Syria. Washington has kept an estimated 900 troops in eastern Syria as a hedge against the militants.

Asked what he will do with those troops, Trump was vague, pointing instead to the strength of Turkey's military and highlighting his relationship with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan.

"Erdogan is somebody I got along with great ... He's built a very strong, powerful army," Trump said.

Appearing to allude to Turkey's Ottoman past, which included control over modern day Syria, Trump added: "They've wanted it for thousands of years, and he got it, and those people that went in are controlled by Turkey, and that's OK."

(Reporting by Jeff Mason with additional reporting by Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; writing by Rami Ayyub; Editing by Bill Berkrot)