Turkish Speaker: Jerusalem is always red line for us

By Emin Avundukluoglu

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey’s parliament speaker criticized the U.S. Middle East peace plan late Tuesday, saying "Jerusalem is always a red line for us."

"Turkey's stance on the Palestinian issue is in line with international law and legitimacy," Mustafa Sentop said via Twitter.

"The unilateral 'Plan' announced by the POTUS [President of the United States] is an attempt far from perceiving the Palestinian issue&the status of Jerusalem and is doomed to fail," Sentop noted.

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump released his often-delayed plan to end the Israel-Palestine conflict during a press conference at the White House, where he was hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, while Palestinian authorities were not represented.

During the news conference, Trump referred to Jerusalem as "Israel's undivided capital".

The so-called peace plan unilaterally annuls previous UN resolutions on the Palestinian issue and suggests giving Israel almost everything the Israelis have been demanding.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets in various parts of Palestine and the Jordanian capital Amman in reaction to the plan's formal rollout.

The "#FreePalestine" hashtag also quickly became the top world trend on Twitter.