Turkish, Palestinian presidents meet in Istanbul

ISTANBUL

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Dec. 12 met his Palestinian counterpart Mahmoud Abbas in Istanbul.

According to a Turkish presidential source, the leaders met at Beylerbeyi Palace, where they had a closed-door meeting that lasted for one hour.

The meeting came a day before an extraordinary summit by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the wake of U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

The summit in Istanbul followed Erdoğan’s call on OIC member countries to gather extraordinarily after the U.S. recognized Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

U.S. President Donald Trump’s announcement last week was followed by worldwide opposition.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the Israel-Palestine conflict, with Palestinians hoping that East Jerusalem—now occupied by Israel—might eventually serve as the capital of a future state.

During his election campaign last year, Trump repeatedly promised to relocate the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.