Turkey’s Foreign Ministry has said it regrets a veto by the United States on Monday of a UN Security Council resolution that called for the US declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital to be withdrawn despite the 14 other members voting in favor of it, Reuters reported.
“The United States being left alone in the vote is a concrete sign of the illegality of its decision on Jerusalem,” the Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
It said the US decision to veto the resolution showed once again that Washington had “lost objectivity” and that it was unacceptable for the Security Council to be left “ineffective” with such a move.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has taken a lead position in opposing US President Donald Trump’s move to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, hosting members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) last week for a summit. A communiqué issued after the summit said the participants considered the move to be a declaration that Washington was withdrawing from its role as a “sponsor of peace” in the Middle East.
Following the US veto of the resolution, an Erdoğan spokesman said the annulment of Trump’s decision would be sought in the UN General Assembly.
“All countries except for the Trump administration acted in unison in this vote. Now the UN General Assembly period will start,” İbrahim Kalın said in a tweet.