Turkey will open embassy in east Jerusalem: Erdoğan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday said his nation plans to open an embassy in east Jerusalem, a move that follows the United States’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“God willing, the day is close when officially, with God’s permission, we will open our embassy there,” said Erdoğan, as reported by Reuters.
Erdoğan’s statement comes after he and other Muslim world leaders during a summit in Istanbul last week slammed the United States’s announcement about Jerusalem. Erdoğan at the summit reportedly called on countries to officially accept that Jerusalem is “the occupied capital of Palestine.”
President Trump earlier this month said the United States would officially recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, bucking years of precedent by the international community. Trump also said he would put in motion plans to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the holy city, but signed a six-month waiver putting the move on hold.
East Jerusalem, one of the most contentious subjects in the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, was not part of the original lines drawn for Israel. Israel captured east Jerusalem in 1967 during the Six-Day War. Much of the international community views this part of the city as occupied territory and Palestinians claim it as the capital of a future independent state.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has said that the United States is not taking sides in the dispute over east Jerusalem and that Israelis and Palestinians should determine the fate of the contested parts of the city during peace negotiations.
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