LONDON
Turkey will never accept the U.S. decision to recognize Jerusalem as capital of Israel, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Tuesday.
“We will never accept US attempt to move embassy to Jerusalem and to recognize Jerusalem as Israeli capital,” Erdogan said in a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Theresa May following their meeting in London.
Erdogan said the U.S. government’s “indifferent policies” encouraged Israel more on occupation and violence in Palestine.
“Israel took these steps with a logic of ‘I am might, therefore I am right’”, the president said, adding “Israel is the occupier there and it continues terrorizing [Palestinians].”
He called on international community and the UN “to act without wasting time and stop this oppression” in Palestine.
Reminding the UN General Assembly vote on the U.S. decision of recognizing Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, Erdogan said 128 countries rejected the U.S. move.
“History will not forgive you [US], we will see this reality; history will never forgive Israel, we will see this too,” Erdogan added.
Turkish president underlined that a “strong message” from Istanbul will be given to the world on Friday as Turkey, as the term president of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, called an emergency meeting over the killings in Gaza.
May, for her part, called for an “independent and transparent investigation” to find out what happened in Gaza yesterday.
“The loss of life we have seen is tragic and extremely concerning. Such violence is destructive to peace efforts and we call on all sides to show restraint,” she said.
“There is an urgent need to establish the facts on what happened […], including why such a volume of live fire was used and what part Hamas played,” she added.
At least 62 Palestinians were martyred and thousands more injured by Israeli forces along the Gaza border Monday amid protests marking the Nakba anniversary and the relocation of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 110 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
