Erdogan warns Trump, Saudis voice alarm over possible US move on Jerusalem
Turkish
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned his United States counterpart Donald
Trump on Tuesday against a possible recognition of Jerusalem as the Israeli
capital while Saudi Arabia expressed “grave and deep concern”.
“Mr
Trump! Jerusalem is a red line for Muslims,” Erdogan said in a televised speech
to his ruling party, warning that if such a move was taken Turkey would call a
summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and could even “go as
far as” cutting its ties with the Jewish state.
US
President Donald Trump faces a key decision this week over Jerusalem's status,
potentially reversing years of US policy and prompting a furious response from
the Palestinians and the Arab world.
Meanwhile
the official Saudi Press Agency, citing a foreign ministry
source said: “Saudi Arabia (expresses) grave and deep concern over reports that
the US administration intends to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel,
and to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem.”
“This
step will have serious implications and will further complicate the
Palestinian-Israeli conflict. It will also obstruct the ongoing efforts to
revive the peace process.” The status of Jerusalem is one of the most
contentious issues of the long-running Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Facing
dark warnings of a historic misstep and widespread unrest,Trump
on Monday delayed a decision on whether to recognise Jerusalem as the Israeli
capital and move the US embassy there.
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
private phone calls between world leaders.
The
mercurial president has yet to make his final decision, officials said, but is
expected to stop short of moving the embassy to Jerusalem outright, a central
campaign pledge which has been postponed once already by the new
administration.
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