Erdogan says US can't buy Turkish support on Jerusalem
- By Reuters -
- Dec 21, 2017
ISTANBUL: President Tayyip Erdogan told the United States on Thursday it could not buy Turkey’s support in a vote at the United Nations on Jerusalem, and said he hoped the world would teach Washington a lesson.
“Mr. Trump, you cannot buy Turkey’s democratic will with your dollars”, Erdogan said after US President Donald Trump threatened to cut aid to countries that support a draft UN resolution calling for the United States to withdraw its decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.
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“I hope and expect the United States won’t get the result it expects from there (the United nations) and the world will give a very good lesson to the United States,” Erdogan said in a speech in Ankara.
Trump’s Dec. 6 decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital broke with decades of US policy and international consensus that the city’s status must be left to Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
Jerusalem, revered by Jews, Christians and Muslims alike, is home to Islam’s third holiest shrine as well as Judaism’s Western Wall – both in the eastern sector – and has been at the heart of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict for decades.