Erdogan, Abbas flay US over Jerusalem

Istanbul, Dec 13 (IANS) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday urged the Islamic world to recognize Jerusalem as Palestine's capital while Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas refused any US involvement in the peace process.

Addressing a summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) here, Erdogan called on countries to recognize "Jerusalem as the capital city of the occupied Palestine" while Abbas urged the world to recognize the state of Palestine, Xinhua news agency reported.

Erdogan described his US counterpart Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision a "threat to all humanity" and called on Washington to withdraw the "wrong, provocative and unlawful" decision.

"The US decision ... means punishing Palestinians who have proven numerous times that they side with peace instead of violence," he said.

"The US has lost its mediator role in the Israel-Palestine peace process and we will never allow in the future that the US takes part in the process," Abbas said.

Speaking at a meeting with his OIC counterparts prior to the summit, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu urged the member states to encourage other countries worldwide to recognize East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital on the basis of the 1967 borders.

"Palestine needs to be recognized by other countries," he said.

The OIC is the second largest inter-governmental organization after the UN, with a membership of 57 states spread over four continents.

As Turkey holds the rotating chair of the group, Erdogan called for an extraordinary summit with a view to drawing up a roadmap for Muslim nations to follow as they oppose the US decision on Jerusalem.