Turkey to open embassy in Occupied-al-Quds

ISTANBUL: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan expressed hope on Sunday that Turkey would soon be able to open an embassy to a Palestinian state in East Occupied al-Quds, as he again denounced Donald Trump’s recognition of the city as the Israeli capital.

Erdogan has sought to lead Islamic condemnation of his US counterpart’s move, calling a summit of the leaders of Muslim nations last week in Istanbul who urged the world to recognise East Occupied al-Quds as the Palestinian capital.

East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel after it seized control of the area in the 1967 war, in a move never recognised by the international community. "Because it is under occupation we can’t just go there and open an embassy," Erdogan said in a speech to his ruling party in the city of Karaman.

"But, in sha Allah (God willing) those days are near and... we will officially open our embassy there," he said, without giving any precise timescale. Turkey currently has a general consulate in Occupied al-Quds. Ankara has full diplomatic ties with Israel, and like all other nations, its embassy is in Tel Aviv.

Erdogan again slammed his US counterpart’s decision to declare Occupied al-Quds the capital of Israel and move the US embassy in Israel to the city, saying it smacked of a "Zionist and evangelist logic and understanding".

He said Jews had no right to "appropriate" Occupied al-Quds which was the the "capital of Muslims". "Please stop where you are and don’t attempt any Zionist operation," he said. "If you try, then the price is going to be high." Erdogan hailed the outcome of the December 13 summit which he said showed the "world a vote of unity".

However the meeting was shadowed by the level of attendance from close US allies Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, who sent lower-level officials rather than leaders. In a speech on the eve of the summit, Erdogan had warned Muslims against "internecine warfare" and "attacks to bring down Muslims from within" saying fighting with each other "only helps terror states like Israel".

Israel has reacted relatively cooly to Erdogan’s repeated broadsides over the last days, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was "not impressed" by statements made at the summit.

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Indonesians protested on Sunday against the US decision to recognise Occupied al-Quds as Israel’s capital, the latest show of support for the Palestinians in the country with the world’s largest Muslim population.

The rally was organised by the top Islamic authority the Indonesian Ulema Council and supported by the government as well as several other Islamic organisations. Police said 80,000 protesters gathered at the National Monument, a tower that looms over central Jakarta, waving the Palestine flag and banners reading "Free Palestine" as they chanted "God is greatest!"

"This is my solidarity as a Muslim to my fellow Muslim brothers and sisters in Palestine... the Al-Aqsa mosque, a historical mosque for Muslims, is there in Occupied al-Quds," said Hermawati, from the nearby city of Bogor, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. Dressed mostly in white, the demonstrators urged the US to change its decision.

Indonesia’s religious affairs minister and Jakarta’s governor were among those at the protest site just a few metres from the US embassy, which was cordoned off behind coils of razor wire.

"Isn’t it the government’s job to work on the aspiration of the majority of Indonesians? And the government has tried its best so Palestine can achieve its rights and independence," Religious Affairs minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin told the crowd.

Indonesia has condemned President Donald Trump’s decision, with President Joko Widodo joining other world Islamic leaders last Wednesday in an emergency summit of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

The leaders urged world powers to recognise occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of the "State of Palestine" and declared Trump’s decision "null and void legally". The UN Security Council is considering a draft resolution which would find that any change to the status of Occupied al-Quds has no legal effect and must be reversed.

The status of Occupied al-Quds, a city considered holy by Christians, Jews and Muslims, is a sensitive issue in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel sees the entire city as its undivided capital. The Palestinians want the eastern sector, which the international community regards as annexed by Israel in 1967, as the capital of their future state.