Erdogan calls for concrete steps on Jerusalem

By Fatih Hafiz Mehmet

ANKARA

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan urged serious attempts that would produce results to solve the Jerusalem question after the illegal U.S. move recognizing the holy city as Israel's 'undivided' capital.

"On the Jerusalem issue, we must take concrete, tangible, visible and result-oriented steps," Erdogan told an International Migrants Day event in the Turkish capital, Ankara.

Erdogan said leaving Jerusalem to the mercy of an "invading power" like Israel can open the door of a process which will push humanity 1,000 years back.

"Today every child is reduced to tears, every suffering mother, every person who is hit, beaten or insulted in Jerusalem and Palestinian cities, is a telling sign of an approaching storm," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Dec. 6 recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, drawing angry reactions from across the Arab and Muslim world.

At an extraordinary summit of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), held last week in Istanbul, participants responded to the U.S. move by formally recognizing East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine.

Jerusalem remains at the heart of the Israel-Palestine dispute, with Palestinians hoping East Jerusalem -- now occupied by Israel -- might eventually serve as the capital of a sovereign Palestinian state.

Migrants in Libya

Erdogan said 700,000 migrants are currently stuck in Libya.

This situation has led to markets where modern slaves are sold, he added.

"The word slave does not necessarily mean people with chains in their neck."

It can also imply to people who work without any breaks for meager wages, he said.

Instead of closing its doors to the refugees, Turkey welcomed 3.5 million people fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, he added.

Turkey did not do this for profit, but only for God's sake, he said.

"On the other hand, Syrian refugees in all of Europe are only 987,000, half of them in Germany."

Turkey has spent $30 billion for helping and sheltering refugees since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011.