Holding of OIC summit - not response to US decision on Jerusalem, Turkey says

By  Trend

Holding of the summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), during which it was decided to recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine, shouldn’t be perceived as a response to the US decision on Jerusalem, Ibrahim Kalin, special adviser and spokesperson of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said on December 15, the country’s media outlets reported.

Kalin noted that most Muslim countries, including Turkey, recognize East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

He noted that the Consulate General of Turkey also operates in East Jerusalem.

On December 13, East Jerusalem was declared the capital of Palestine in a resolution adopted following the OIC emergency summit in Istanbul.

The OIC also urged all countries to condemn the US decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Previously, US President Donald Trump proclaimed that the US recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

Israel proclaimed Jerusalem its capital after the end of the War of Independence in 1949. In 1967, after the Six Days War, it seized East Jerusalem and united it with the West Jerusalem, but the UN did not recognize this. Embassies of countries that have diplomatic relations with Israel are located mainly in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and Ramat Gan.