LONDON: Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday the United States had forfeited its role as a mediator in the Middle East by moving its Israel embassy to Jerusalem.
“The United States has chosen to be a part of the problem rather than the solution with its latest step and has lost its mediating role in the peace process,” Erdogan said in a speech at Britain’s Chatham House think tank.
The United States is due to officially move its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on Monday in a move that has delighted Israel but infuriated Palestinians.
CYPRUS OPERATIONS:
Erdogan also said on Monday that the eastern Mediterranean region will face a sustained security threat if Cyprus continues unilateral operations.
Erdogan, on an official visit to Britain, made the comment in a speech at the Chatham House think tank in London. Turkey and Cyprus’s internationally recognised Greek Cypriot government have been locked in a public dispute over overlapping claims of jurisdiction for offshore oil and gas research.