Turkish FM meets with Palestinian counterpart

JEDDAH/ANKARA-Anadolu Agency

DHA Photo

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu met on Feb. 2 with his Palestinian counterpart Riyad al-Maliki in Saudi Arabia's capital, which is set to host a high-level meeting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Çavuşoğlu will take part in an Emergency Open-Ended Executive Committee Ministerial Meeting of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Jeddah on Feb. 4upon the request of Palestine in order to discuss the most recent developments with regard to the U.S.'s so-called Middle East peace plan.

Çavuşoğlu is also expected to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts from OIC member states.

Earlier the day, the top Turkish diplomat spoke by phone with his Ukrainian counterpart Vadym Prystaiko and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, according to diplomatic sources.

No further information was provided on the issues discussed.

The position on U.S. President Donald Trump's 'Deal of the Century' will be discussed during the OIC's emergency meeting at the headquarters of the General Secretariat, the organization said earlier on Twitter.

"The #OIC reaffirms its principled position and support for #Palestine in the struggle to regain its legitimate rights, including the establishment of an independent and sovereign state with East #Jerusalem as its capital," it added.

The Mideast peace plan announced by Trump on Jan. 28 supports the Israeli position on nearly all of the most contentious issues in the decades-old conflict.

Where previous presidents tried to cajole Israel and the Palestinians into compromising on thorny issues like the borders of a future Palestinian state, the status of Jerusalem and the fate of refugees, Trump's Mideast team largely adopted the Israeli position.

As a result, the Palestinians have angrily rejected the plan, and the international community appears unlikely to rally around it.