Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan lambasted main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP) Chairman Kemal Kılıçdaroğlu over remarks he made on Jerusalem, saying Turkey cannot open an embassy in East Jerusalem due to the Israeli occupation but that it will do so soon, the state-run TRThaber reported.
“Mr. Kılıçdaroğlu says, ‘It must be declared the capital city of Palestine.’ We already declared that long ago. But we cannot open our embassy there due to the occupation. But our Consulate General there is headed by who? By an ambassador. We have de facto done it. The days are close, God willing, we will open our embassy there,” Erdoğan said during a Justice and Development Party (AKP) meeting in Karaman province.
The 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) on Wednesday recognized East Jerusalem as the capital of the State of Palestine and invited other countries to follow suit.
“While we reaffirm that we recognize the State of Palestine with East Jerusalem as its capital, we invite the whole world to recognize East Jerusalem as the occupied capital of the State of Palestine.”