ANKARA: US President Donald Trump’s decision on Wednesday to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has sparked strong Turkish condemnation.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday said the decision ignored UN resolutions and amounted to “throwing the region into a circle of fire.”
He added: “Hey Mr. Trump, what are you trying to do? If Trump is saying, ‘I am powerful and right,’ he is wrong.”
Erdogan is expected to speak with leaders of Western countries, including Britain, Germany, Spain and France, as well as Russia about Trump’s decision.
Turkey’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement: “We condemn the irresponsible statement of the US administration that we learned with great concern, declaring that it recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and it will be moving the US Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.”
The ministry added: “This decision is against international law and relevant UN Resolutions, as the annexation of Jerusalem by Israel has been rejected by (the) international community and the UN.”
Under Turkey’s chairmanship, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene an extraordinary meeting in Istanbul on Dec. 13 to present a coordinated response.
While Turkey’s EU Minister Omer Celik called the decision a “provocation,” presidential spokesman Ibrahim Kalin said it is “null and void” for Ankara, adding that it is ridiculous to define it “as a contribution to peace.”
Kalin said: “This is an attempt to legalize the current situation that would eliminate all peace initiatives, and it aims at opening deep wounds in the Middle East.”
Thousands across Turkey took to the streets on Wednesday night, and demonstrated in front of the US consular and embassy buildings.
Galip Dalay, research director at Al-Sharq Forum in Istanbul, said Trump’s decision has further strained US-Turkish and Turkish-Israeli relations.
“In particular, Turkish-Israeli relations are likely to deteriorate if violence breaks out in Palestine, and if Israel responds in a heavy-handed manner,” Dalay told Arab News.
“If the Turkish government had any intention of further improving relations with Israel prior to this decision, now it will face public sensitivity and pressure.”
Dalay said Turkey should manage this process via a multilateral framework, adding: “Given the wide international rejection of this issue, Turkey should build on this and not reduce it to a Muslim matter.”
Murat Yesiltas, a Middle East expert at the Ankara-based think tank SETA, said Trump’s decision may have various consequences.
“It could throw the Middle East policy of the US into a profound crisis,” Yesiltas told Arab News.
“This decision will first and foremost derail the personal relationship between Erdogan and Trump, and create an opportunity for spoilers.”
Yesiltas said he anticipates a major change in Erdogan’s perception of Trump, adding that time will tell whether the latter’s decision will galvanize regional cooperation against it.
The day before Trump announced his decision, Ankara warned that recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital could prompt Turkey to cut diplomatic ties with Israel.
It amounts to ‘throwing region into a circle of fire,’ says Erdogan
It amounts to ‘throwing region into a circle of fire,’ says Erdogan
Syrian leader to meet Putin, Russia seeks deal on military bases
- Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue
MOSCOW: Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa will meet Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Wednesday, as the Kremlin seeks to secure the future of its military bases in the country.
Putin and Sharaa struck a conciliatory tone at their previous meeting in October, their first since Sharaa’s rebel forces toppled Moscow-ally Bashar Assad in 2024.
But Russia’s continued sheltering of Assad and his wife since their ouster remains a thorny issue. Sharaa has repeatedly pushed Russia for their extradition.
Sharaa, meanwhile, has embraced US President Donald Trump, who on Tuesday praised the Syrian leader as “highly respected” and said things were “working out very well.”
Putin, whose influence in the Middle East has waned since Assad’s ouster, is seeking to maintain Russia’s military footprint in the region.
Russia withdrew its forces from the Qamishli airport in Kurdish-held northeast Syria earlier this week, leaving it with only the Hmeimim air base and Tartus naval base on Syria’s Mediterranean coast — its only military outposts outside the former Soviet Union.
“A discussion is planned on the status of bilateral relations and prospects for developing them in various fields, as well as the current situation in the Middle East,” the Kremlin said of the upcoming meeting in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia was a key ally of Assad during the bloody 14-year Syrian civil war, launching air strikes on rebel-held areas of Syria controlled by Sharaa’s Islamist forces.
The toppling of Assad dealt a major blow to Russia’s influence in the region and laid bare the limits of Moscow’s military reach amid the Ukraine war.
The United States, which cheered Assad’s demise, has fostered ever-warmer ties with Sharaa — even as Damascus launched a recent offensive against Kurdish forces long backed by the West.
Despite Trump’s public praise, both the United States and Europe have expressed concern that the offensive in Syria’s northeast could precipitate the return of Islamic State forces held in Kurdish-held jails.
