Erdogan: US move 鈥榩lays into hands鈥� of terrorists

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, right, shakes hands with Jordan's King Abdullah II after a joint press conference at the presidential complex in Ankara on Wednesday. (AFP)

ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday strongly warned the US against recognizing Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, saying the move would help terror groups.
鈥淪uch a step will only play into the hands of terror groups,鈥� Erdogan said at a joint news conference in Ankara after talks with Jordan鈥檚 King Abdallah.
鈥淭his mistaken step... will lead to public outrage in the entire Islamic world, dynamite the ground for peace and ignite new tensions and clashes in our region,鈥� he said.
King Abdallah, who had been personally informed by Trump of the move by telephone, backed Erdogan鈥檚 warnings and said East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state. 鈥淭here is no alternative to a two-state solution,鈥� Abdallah said, speaking in English.
He cautioned that 鈥淛erusalem is key to any peace agreement (between Israel and the Palestinians) and is key to the stability of the entire region鈥�.
Abdallah said he had told Trump of 鈥渙ur concerns鈥� over the decision to move the US embassy to Jerusalem during their telephone call.
He added that it was 鈥渋mperative now to work fast鈥� to reach a final status solution and a peace agreement between Palestinians and Israelis.
鈥淭his must allow the Palestinians to establish an independent state side by side with Israel and its capital in East Jerusalem.鈥�
He also warned that ignoring Muslim rights in Jerusalem 鈥渨ill only fuel further extremism and undermine the war against terrorism.鈥�
The two countries, which are celebrating their 70 years of diplomatic relations, focused on regional developments with a special emphasis on the de-escalation zones in Syria.
Sharing borders with Syria and Iraq, Ankara and Amman accord high importance to the ongoing developments in Syria as they host millions of Syrian refugees, while Jordan supports Turkey鈥檚 mediation initiatives in Syria for a cease-fire and peace settlement for the seven-year civil war.
Last month, Jordan, Russia and US agreed on setting up a temporary de-escalation zone in southern Syria, while Turkey, along with Russia and Iran, implemented a de-escalation zone in the northern part of the war-torn country since October.
鈥淚t is very important to have one more regional power on board for solving the Syrian conflict because there is a substantial lack of common position in Syria,鈥� Nursin Atesoglu Guney, dean of the faculty of economics, administrative and social sciences at Bahcesehir Cyprus University, told Arab News.
Guney thinks that the Jerusalem decision, over which regional countries showed an outcry of opposition, will be a wake-up call to the Muslim world about the need for unity on regional issues.
鈥淭he problem here is not only the violation of the international law, but it will also push the world towards a new chaos that may start by a revenge campaign in Gaza,鈥� she said.
鈥淐onsidering the significant Palestinian community in Jordan, King Abdallah cannot keep himself away from the sensitivity of such a looming crisis,鈥� Guney added.
According to Guney, taking initiatives on sensitive regional issues such as Palestinian conflict, Jerusalem issue and de-escalation zones in Syria, both countries aim for being real power brokers in the region and they intend to raise awareness of the international community about some acute challenges from a humanitarian perspective.
鈥淚n this way, they show that the US is not the only actor in the region, but they are many counterweight forces that balance it,鈥� she added.
The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) will convene for an extraordinary meeting in Istanbul on Dec. 13 to present a joint response to the US鈥� decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel鈥檚 capital.