The status of Jerusalem is a ‘red line’ for Muslims and could even prompt Turkey to cut ties with Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned on Tuesday.
US officials have said that President Donald Trump is likely to give a speech on Wednesday unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a step that would break with decades of policy and could fuel violence in the Middle East.
Erdogan said Turkey, which currently holds the chairmanship of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), would immediately call a summit meeting of the pan-Islamic group if Trump went ahead with the move.
‘Mr Trump! Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims,’ Erdogan said in a raucous televised speech to his ruling party that was greeted with chants and applause.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country would immediately call a summit meeting of the pan-Islamic group if Jerusalem is recognised as Israel’s capital
US officials have said that President Donald Trump is likely to give a speech on Wednesday unilaterally recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, a step that would break with decades of policy and could fuel violence in the Middle East
‘It is a violation of international law to take a decision supporting Israel while Palestinian society’s wounds are still bleeding,’ he told a parliamentary meeting of his ruling AK Party.
‘…this can go as far as severing Turkey’s ties with Israel. I am warning the United States not to take such a step which will deepen the problems in the region.’
Erdogan said that if such a move was made to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he would summon a summit of the OIC in Istanbul within five to ten days ‘and we would set the entire Islamic world in motion’.
As for Turkey, Erdogan said Ankara would ‘follow this struggle to the very last moment with determination and we could even go right up to cutting our diplomatic relations with Israel’.
Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed it, declaring the whole of the city as its capital, a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want Jerusalem as the capital of their future state.
‘I am saddened by the reports that the US is getting ready to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital,’ Erdogan said.
Israel captured Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war. It later annexed it, declaring the whole of the city as its capital, a move not recognised internationally. Palestinians want Jerusalem (pictured) as the capital of their future state
Erdogan said that if such a move was made to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, he would summon a summit of the OIC in Istanbul within five to ten days ‘and we would set the entire Islamic world in motion’
Last year, Turkey and Israel ended a rift triggered by Israel’s deadly storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left ten Turkish activists dead and led to a downgrading of diplomatic ties.
The two sides have since stepped up cooperation in particular in energy but Erdogan, who regards himself a champion of the Palestinian cause, is still often bitterly critical of Israeli policy.
The United States is a strong supporter of a strong relationship between Turkey, the key Muslim member of NATO, and Israel, which is Washington’s main ally in the Middle East.
Erdogan’s comments came after the White House said Trump would miss a deadline to decide on shifting the embassy from Tel Aviv, after a frantic 48 hours of public warnings from allies and world leaders.
Israeli government spokesmen had no immediate reaction, but Education Minister Naftali Bennett, a senior partner in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu´s coalition government, brushed off Erdogan’s comments.
‘There will always be those who criticize, but at the end of the day it is better to have a united Jerusalem than Erdogan’s sympathy,’ he said.