Erdogan says US can't buy Turkish support on Jerusalem

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday blasted the US President Donald Trump threatening to cut aid to countries that vote to denounce his decision recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital. 

“Mr Trump, you can’t buy Turkey's democratic will with your dollars,”  Erdogan said in a speech in capital Ankara. 

“What do other countries call America? 'The cradle of democracy'. The cradle of democracy is looking to buy [people’s] wills with dollars,” he said. 

TRT World's Omer Kablan reports from Ankara.

Erdogan called on countries of the world “not to sell your wills in the fight for democracy.” 

The full 193-member UN General Assembly will meet for a rare emergency special session regarding Trump's decision. The overwhelming majority are expected to vote against it.

Under a 1950 resolution, an emergency special session can be called for the General Assembly to consider a matter “with a view to making appropriate recommendations to members for collective measures” if the Security Council fails to act.

Only 10 such sessions have been convened, and the last time the General Assembly met in such a session was in 2009 on occupied East Jerusalem and Palestinian territories.

Trump said on Wednesday at the White House: "They take hundreds of millions of dollars and even billions of dollars, and then they vote against us. Well, we’re watching those votes. Let them vote against us. We’ll save a lot. We don’t care.” 

He added: "This isn't like it used to be where they could vote against you and then you pay them hundreds of millions of dollars and nobody knows what they're doing."