Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Sunday continued to criticize US President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, saying Israel is a terrorist state and that Trump’s decision is null and void for Turkey, the state-run TRT reported.
“We will show that the decision [of Trump] is not so easily put into practice. Trump’s statement is null and void for us,” Erdoğan said during a Justice and Development Party (AKP) congress in Sivas.
“Israel is a terror state, terror. Look how these terrorists dragged a blindfolded 14-year-old boy [by the arms],” Erdoğan said, adding: “Quds [Jerusalem] is the light of our eyes. We will not leave it to the mercy of a child killer state.”
Recalling that he had been engaging in telephone diplomacy with world leaders since Tuesday, Erdoğan said: “As current chairman of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, we will summon the leaders of Muslim countries to an emergency summit in Istanbul on Wednesday.”
“We explained to all our interlocutors that the United States’ decision does not comply with international law, diplomacy or humanity,” Erdoğan said at the meeting in Sivas, referring to phone calls he made to leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and the pope, Reuters reported.
Erdoğan also said he would evaluate the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin during his visit to Turkey on Monday.