WASHINGTON, May 16 -- U.S. President Donald Trump and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan pledged on Tuesday to repair bilateral relationship fraught with difficulties in the past. However, division between the two sides still run deep.

Speaking at the White House with Erdogan, Trump hailed the Turkish people as "friends and allies for many, many decades" for the United States and pledged support for Turkish fight against the Islamic State (IS) and a Kurdish militant group known as the PKK.

However, the pledge was made as the United States and Turkey were involved in stark disagreement over the Trump administration's recent decision to arm Syrian Kurds, a key force in the fight against the IS in Syria.

Currently, the U.S.-led coalition against the IS is backing the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), comprised of mostly the People's Protection Units (YPG) Kurds and some local Arabs.

Also on the eve of Erdogan's meeting with Trump, the Pentagon was reportedly preparing to further arm Syrian Kurds with antitank weapons.

While the antitank weapons could be used to thwart IS' suicide bombing attacks by trucks, the weaponry could also be used to strike Turkish tanks in Syria.

The Turkish government had made clear their objection to U.S. arming of YPG Kurds, whom Ankara has for long regarded as Syrian branch of the outlawed PKK.

Before Erdogan's meeting with Trump, Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yildirim told his party members the U.S. cooperation with Syrian Kurds "is not something acceptable" for Turkey.

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