Turkey dubs US veto on Jerusalem ‘worrisome’

By Sibel Ugurlu, Ilkay Guder and Burcu Calik

ANKARA

The Turkish presidential spokesman on Tuesday dubbed “worrisome” the U.S. decision to veto UN Security Council resolution against President Donald Trump’s decision on Jerusalem.

“Turkey condemns [the U.S.] veto decision. It’s quite worrisome that the U.S. administration is still insisting on their mistake and not stepping back from their decision despite all warnings from across the world,” Ibrahim Kalin said during a symposium in Ankara.

Kalin went on to say that the UN General Assembly will convene on Thursday morning to vote on the decision.

“This is a significant milestone for Jerusalem cause… We would like to remind the whole world once again that Jerusalem is not a property to be delivered to Israel nor is it for sale and its holiness cannot be overridden.”

The U.S. vetoed a UN 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 begin the process to move its embassy there from Tel Aviv -- the city where all other nations 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.

Jerusalem's status has long been considered a final status issue to be determined by Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations and Trump's decision is widely seen as undercutting that long-standing understanding. East Jerusalem, which Palestinians are seeking as the capital of their state, was occupied by Israel in 1967.

Speaking to reporters after the symposium, Kalin said that the rejected U.N. resolution confirmed that the unilateral decision of the U.S. administration was unlawful.

“Although it was vetoed by 14 to 1, that picture itself actually points to an important fact,” Kalin said.

“The whole world has again confirmed via the U.N. Security Council that the Trump administration’s decision on the issue is wrong.”

Kalin called on the Trump administration one more time to reverse its decision.

On Thursday's vote, Kalin said that a two-thirds majority would confirm once again that the U.S. decision was “unlawful”.

“We will continue working during these two days with the intensive initiatives of Mr. President [Recep Tayyip Erdogan],” he added.