BICOM

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is today set to chair a special meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to coordinate a response to the US recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel today.

Twenty-two world leaders are due to attend the OIC in Istanbul, including Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, Jordanian King Abdullah II, Lebanese President Michel Aoun and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu told broadcaster NTV a “strong statement” would emerge from the summit, saying: “If we don’t defend Jerusalem, one of the three most sacred places of Islam, what will we defend?” Çavuşoğlu also claimed some Arab countries have failed to sufficiently condemn the recognition because US President Donald Trump “scares them”.

Foreign ministers from the Arab league urged Washington to withdraw its recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital at an emergency summit last weekend.

On 6 December, the US President formally recognised Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and announced that the State Department is preparing to relocate the US Embassy there. He also said emphasised that the US was “not taking any position on any final status issues, including the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem” and reaffirmed “support for the status quo at the Temple Mount, also known as Haram al Sharif”.

Speaking about Trump’s statement to Fathom on Friday, Director of the Washington Institute David Makovsky said that this latter part of Trump’s statement had “been glossed over because people didn’t see beyond the obvious headline: ‘US recognises Israel capital in Jerusalem’”. Makovsky called for US government officials to appear on Arabic media and reaffirm their commitment to any borders and sovereignty arrangements being the result of Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

Hardline Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak has suggested that the conference’s response to the recognition could lead to urgent “initiatives to halt its implementation,” including ending joint political, military and economic projects with Israel, the withdrawal of ambassadors from the US and ending relations with countries that “accept Israel’s occupation of Jerusalem”.

Yeni Safak also suggested that member states could close their airspace to Israeli aircraft and end intelligence cooperation with both the US and Israel.