Turkey expects the U.S. to act against Kurdish rebels in northern Iraq but will take its own measures if it sees no results in the fight, the prime minister said.

In northern Iraq on Saturday, thousands of Kurds packed the streets of a border city to protest a threatened Turkish incursion and to warn they would defend their territory.

Turkey has threatened to cross the Iraqi border to try to wipe out Kurdish rebel bases, arguing it has the right to fight terrorism. The United States and Iraq oppose such unilateral action, fearing it could destabilize northern Iraq, the most stable part of the country.

“We have expectations mainly from the U.S. more than Iraq. We want the coalition forces – mainly the U.S.- to take a step here,” Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Friday.