Istanbul, Dec 18 (AFP) President Recep Tayyip Erdoganexpressed hope that Turkey would soon be able to open anembassy to a Palestinian state in East Jerusalem, as hestepped up his attacks on Donald Trump's recognition of thecity as the Israeli capital.
Erdogan has sought to lead Islamic condemnation of his UScounterpart's move, calling a summit of the leaders of Muslimnations last week in Istanbul who urged the world to recogniseEast Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital.
East Jerusalem was annexed by Israel after it seizedcontrol of the area in the 1967 war, in a move neverrecognised by the international community.
"Because it is under occupation we can't just go thereand open an embassy," Erdogan said in a speech to his rulingparty yesterday in the city of Karaman.
"But, God willing those days are near and... we willofficially open our embassy there," he said, without givingany precise timescale.
Turkey currently has a general consulate in Jerusalem.
Ankara has full diplomatic ties with Israel, and like othernations, its embassy is in Tel Aviv.
Erdogan again slammed Trump's decision to declareJerusalem the capital of Israel and move the US embassy there,saying it smacked of a "Zionist and evangelist logic andunderstanding."He said Jews had no right to "appropriate" Jerusalemwhich was the "capital of Muslims".
"Please stop where you are and don't attempt any Zionistoperation," he said. "If you try, then the price is going tobe high."Erdogan hailed the outcome of the December 13 summitwhich he said showed the "world a vote of unity".
However the meeting was overshadowed by the level ofattendance from close US allies Saudi Arabia and the UnitedArab Emirates, who sent lower-level officials rather thanleaders.
Erdogan had warned Muslims, in a speech earlier thisweekend, against "internecine warfare", saying fighting witheach other "only helps terror states like Israel".
Israel has reacted relatively cooly to Erdogan's repeatedbroadsides over the last days, although Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu said he was "not impressed" by statementsmade at the summit.
Contacted by AFP, an Israeli foreign ministryspokesperson declined to comment on Erdogan's latest remarks.
Protests which have been taking place almost daily inTurkey against Trump's move continued at the weekend.
In the mainly Kurdish southeastern city of Diyarbakir,thousands of people turned out yesterday, waving Palestinianflags and brandishing slogans like "the massacres will notstop if all Muslims are not together."In a separate speech also yesterday, Prime MinisterBinali Yildirim said that "from now on we declare thatoccupied East Jerusalem is the capital of Palestine", addingTurkey wanted to see a solution for Jerusalem that satisfiedboth sides in the conflict.
Erdogan's spokesman Ibrahim Kalin -- a key foreign policyadvisor of the president -- wrote in a newspaper article thatTrump's move represented "a toxic mix of populism andunilateralism".
But he wrote in Daily Sabah that one positive consequencewas that the issue of the Palestinians was again at the centreof global debate.
"This new momentum should now be utilised to find a fairand lasting peace," Kalin said.
Last year, Turkey and Israel ended a rift triggered byIsrael's storming in 2010 of a Gaza-bound ship that left 10Turkish activists dead and led to a downgrading of diplomaticties.
The two sides have since stepped up cooperation,particularly over a planned gas pipeline in talks spearheadedby Erdogan's son-in-law and Energy Minister Berat Albayrak.
But Erdogan, who regards himself as a champion of thePalestinian cause, has kept up his verbal attacks on Israel'spolicies. (AFP)CHT.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.