Turkish MP: Trump’s J'lem move 'black mark in history'

By Muhammet Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - A senior Turkish ruling party lawmaker on Thursday criticized U.S. President Donald Trump's controversial decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital last year.

"Trump's Dec. 6 [2017] decision left a new black mark in the U.S. history," said Hasan Turan, head of the parliament’s Turkey-Palestine parliamentary friendship group, to reporters in parliament.

Turan said that the U.S. and Israel's support to the terrorist organization "would not prevent Turkey's rise."

"Jerusalem, Gaza and Al-Aqsa Mosque would continue to be our red line until an independent and free state of Palestine is established," he stressed.

Last year, Trump sparked an international outcry by announcing plans to move Washington’s Israel Embassy to Jerusalem and recognize the city as Israel’s capital.

Since the move this May, the Palestinian leadership in Ramallah has rejected any mediating role by the U.S. in the moribund Middle East peace process.

International law continues to view East Jerusalem, along with the entire West Bank, as "occupied territory" and considers all Jewish settlement construction there to be illegal.