Erdoğan repeats call for defending Jerusalem’s status

ANKARA

President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 19 renewed his call on U.N. member nations to back the status of the contested city of Jerusalem.

“I invite once again all U.N. member nations to defend the historical status of Jerusalem,” Erdoğan said during a joint news conference with his Djiboutian counterpart Ismail Omar Guelleh in the capital Ankara.

“We, as Turkey, will continue to follow this issue till the end,” Erdoğan added.

On Dec. 19, the U.S. vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution that rejected the establishment of diplomatic facilities in the contested city of Jerusalem, breaking with the rest of the council.

The move comes less than two weeks after Washington moved to recognize the holy city as Israel’s capital and began the process to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv, where all other countries house their main diplomatic facilities.

Fourteen council members voted in favor of the Egyptian-sponsored resolution that would have demanded U.S. President Donald Trump reverse course on the decision. The U.S. was the sole dissenting vote.

On Dec. 13, Muslim leaders at an Organization of Islamic Corporation (OIC) summit, hosted by Erdoğan, had declared East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Bilateral relations

Erdoğan said the two leaders had discussed bilateral relations during a closed-door meeting.

“We agreed on improving trade and economic relations,” he said.

The president said the presence of Turkish investors in the East African country will pave the way for strong relations between the two countries.

“To date, we have been with our Djiboutian brothers and will from now on put effort to support them,” Erdoğan said.

Guelleh, for his part, called the meeting “fruitful.”

“There was significant and fruitful cooperation between the two brotherly countries,” Guelleh said.

Ahead of the joint news conference, Turkey and Djibouti signed four cooperation agreements in different areas, including health, defense and education.