Pictured Above: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan during the general debate of the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 20, 2016. Credit: U.N. Photo/Cia Pak.

(JNS) Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called on world leaders to recognize eastern Jerusalem as the capital of a Palestinian state in response to President Donald Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital.

Erdogan’s declaration came in an address during a special meeting of the 57-member Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in Istanbul.

The Turkish leader condemned Israel as a “terror” state, while calling for international recognition of a Palestinian state to be accelerated. 

The “process to include Palestine in international agreements and institutions should be sped up,” said Erdogan, who also blasted U.S. recognition of the Israeli capital as an “awful and provocative” move that crossed a “red line.”

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas also addressed the conference, and similarly lambasted U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the “greatest crime” that threatens world peace and violates international law. 

Abbas branded Trump’s move as a “provocation” against Muslims and Christians, and threatened that the U.S. policy change could spark a religious war. 

“Jerusalem is and always will be the capital of Palestine,” said Abbas. 

Ahead of the Dec. 6 U.S. recognition of Jerusalem, Erdogan had threatened to “set the entire Islamic world in motion” if Trump followed through with the move. 

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