Turkey’s Erdoğan slams Trump administration over its Jerusalem move

Turkey’s Islamist President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Wednesday slammed the administration of US President Donald Trump and said its decision to move the US Embassy to Jerusalem has no value as the US has almost reduced its reputation to zero.

In an interview with TRT World, Erdoğan was asked about the recent US move to relocate its embassy to Jerusalem and a photo of US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, who was shown standing next to an aerial image of Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa compound in which a Jewish temple was superimposed over the famous mosque.

“America has almost reduced its reputation to zero,” Erdoğan said. “America and Israel have taken this decision [to move the embassy to Jerusalem], which has no value.”

Recalling a UN vote on Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, Erdoğan said: “This shows us that these actions are not approved around the world. If you say ‘I have money, I have power, and I can intimidate all of you using that,’ you can’t do it. And nobody took you seriously.”

“And now you have moved your embassy there [Jerusalem]. So what? The capital city of Palestine is Jerusalem, everyone knows that. There is no hesitation about that. Admit it or not, it doesn’t matter,” Erdoğan said.

At least 65 Palestinians were killed and thousands more injured by Israeli forces along the Gaza border in protests on May 14. Thousands of Palestinians had gathered on the Gaza Strip’s eastern border to take part in protests aimed to commemorate the Nakba anniversary and protest the relocation of the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

Since the border rallies began on March 30, more than 100 Palestinian demonstrators have been killed by cross-border Israeli gunfire, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Last week, the Israeli government said the ongoing border protests constituted a “state of war” in which international humanitarian law did not apply.

In December of last year, the UN General Assembly voted 128-9 to reject Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

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