Turkish president says never allows US plan to threaten peace in Mideast

ISTANBUL - Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Turkey would never allow US so-called "Deal of the Century" to threaten peace in the region, the state-run Anadolu agency reported Monday.

Erdogan made the remarks in a written message he sent to the Third Conference of the Inter-parliamentary Jerusalem Platform in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital.

The Turkish leader said the deal which declared Jerusalem the capital of Israel is nothing more than "a dream" that threatens peace in the region, and Turkey would not allow this dream to come true.

"We do not recognize this plan, which means annexation of Palestinian lands, destroys Palestine, and completely seizes Jerusalem," he was quoted as saying by Anadolu. "We never accept this attempt, which accepts a two-state solution on the surface but means legitimizing the Israeli occupation under the mandate of the American administration."

Earlier, Ankara declared the plan, which was announced by US President Donald Trump at the end of January to stop the conflict between Israel and Palestine, as "stillborn".