Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. (AP/Burhan Ozbilici)
Furious over Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel, the Turkish president vowed to open an embassy in the “State of Palestine.”
By: Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News
Protesting President Donald Trump’s announcement that the US will move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, the capital of Israel, the Turkish leader announced that he will also open an embassy there – to the “State of Palestine,” in the eastern part of the city.
“God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open our embassy there,” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said on Sunday.
As Israel controls all of Jerusalem and would hardly allow such a move on Turkey’s part, the declaration must be seen as a purely political move by Erdoğan, who uses harsh anti-Israel rhetoric as a way to gain popularity on the Arab street.
Sunday’s announcement follows hard on the heels of his livid words at an emergency summit of the 57-member Organization of Islamic Cooperation last week in Istanbul, where he said the US is “a partner in bloodshed” with Israel and called for the world to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of “Palestine”.
In a somewhat milder tone, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu reportedly stated that Turkey will open an embassy once the world recognizes Palestine as an independent state. “Once we succeed, embassies will open in the independent Palestinian state’s capital, east Jerusalem,” he said.
Turkey is also involved in an initiative at the United Nations to annul Trump’s decision. Egypt has already put forward a resolution to the Security Council according to which any decision related to the status of Jerusalem that contradicts previous resolutions will be declared null and void. The vote is likely to take place in the coming days, but America is expected to use its veto to stop it from passing.
Erdogan has already announced that in that case, Turkey would work to bring it to a vote in the General Assembly, where there is an automatic anti-Israel majority. However, such resolutions are not binding, unlike those in the Security Council.
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