Turkey will ask the United Nations to void President Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, it announced on Friday.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he is beginning UN initiatives to reverse the decision, which marked a departure from decades of US foreign policy and sparked unrest across the world.
Although based on real anger in the Muslim world, Erdogan's rhetoric amounts to little more that diplomatic trolling. As the US is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it has veto powers that could mean it would block any move to overturn Trump's decision.
In a live speech broadcast to crowds in Konya, 150 miles south of the capital, Ankara, Erdogan said that Turkey would first seek annulment in the Security Council and, if that were unsuccessful, in the General Assembly.
"We will work for the cancellation of this illegal and unjust decision," he said.
He also called for increased international efforts toward the recognition of Palestine, and declared that Muslim countries are setting up funds to protect Palestinian families, according to Turkish news agency Anadolu.
Turkey has taken the lead in vocally opposing Trump’s decision, announced on Dec. 6.
Erdogan summoned the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to Istanbul on Wednesday, when 57 nations issued a joint declaration recognizing the eastern half of Jerusalem as the capital of an as-yet nonexistent Palestinian state.
The uproar following the US announcement that it would move its embassy from Tel Aviv offered a unique moment of unity across the Muslim world. Leaders struggling to maintain domestic popularity have been able to exploit the genuine anger at Trump's Jerusalem decision to rally the masses at little cost to themselves.
Turkey and Iran have been at the forefront of whipping up anti-American sentiment, but US allies such as Jordan, Morocco, Egypt, and even Saudi Arabia have issued strongly worded condemnations.
And Turkey isn't the own Muslim-majority country to engage in diplomatic grandstanding. The foreign minister of Lebanon, which technically remains in a state of war with Israel, offered to establish an embassy in East Jerusalem.
However, anger at the decision remains palpable. Protests have erupted across the Muslim world from Indonesia to Mauritania and among diaspora communities in Europe. On Friday, clashes broke out between Israeli security forces and Palestinian protesters in several cities in the West Bank after several Palestinian factions called for a "day of rage" following noon prayers across the occupied territories. Dozens were injured, according to the official Ma'an News Agency.
In Turkey and other countries, domestic politics may be driving much of the posturing on the Jerusalem matter. Turkish opposition parties have noisily called on the Turkish government to open an embassy in East Jerusalem and recognize it as the capital of Palestine in retribution for the Trump move.
The Trump administration’s decision has forced even potential US allies to distance themselves from the White House. The heads of both Egypt’s Coptic Church and the famed Azhar School of Islamic Learning have rejected meetings with US Vice President Mike Pence in the aftermath of the announcement.
Yet Erdogan's fierce rhetoric over the fallout has still sparked criticism. Despite years of tension between Israel and Turkey over the Palestinian issue, trade between the two nations has blossomed.
According to official Turkish statistics, the country's exports to Israel have grown from $1.7 billion in 2007 to $2.7 billion in 2017, while imports grew from $1.1 billion to $1.3 billion.
Opposition figures have criticized Erdogan for condemning Israel while still allowing billions in energy and trade deals.
"The first thing to do to support the Palestinian people is to stop all trade, military, and diplomatic relations with Israel," Mustafa Guven, a union leader, was quoted as saying by the newspaper Evrensel.
"Those who are doing trade with Israel are organizing protests against the same country," said Kani Beko, head of the Confederation of Revolutionary Workers' Unions of Turkey (DISK), according to the Arti Gercek news website. "They eat the lamb with the wolf and then cry together with the shepherd."