US move on Golan Heights ‘unlawful’: Turkish FM

By Hakan Mehmet Sahin and Ibrahim Erikan

TEKIRDAG/ADANA, Turkey (AA) - Turkey does not recognize the “unlawful” U.S.’s decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights in Syria, the Turkish foreign minister said on Wednesday.

Speaking in northwestern Tekirdag province, Mevlut Cavusoglu said the U.S. move is “null and void” that violates the international law.

“We object to your [the U.S.] decision and we don’t recognize it,” Cavusoglu.

On Monday, U.S. President Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation officially recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

The UN said the Golan Heights is still considered an “occupied territory” under international law, despite Trump’s announcement.

Israel occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

Meanwhile, Devlet Bahceli, head of Turkey’s opposition Nationalist Movement Party, said the Trump’s decision to benefit Israel “will bear no results”.

*Writing by Erdogan Cagatay Zontur