ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Turkey's president says the country will develop unmanned tanks to minimize risks to soldiers in combat.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced the plan Wednesday during a speech delivered at a conference on Turkey's five-year development plan.

His comments came as Turkey's military is carrying out a cross-border offensive in Syria to clear a border enclave of Syrian Kurdish rebels.

Erdogan said: "We need to be able to manufacture unmanned tanks and we will do this ... We are becoming a country that is catching this technology."

The Turkish leader said that U.S. refusal to provid...