US making historic mistake: Turkish opposition leader

Turkey's opposition Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) leader on Wednesday said the U.S. was making a "historic mistake" with its expected decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

Devlet Bahçeli said in a statement the U.S. move would serve as "a time bomb which will ruin the Middle East".

"The Jerusalem plot is a dagger which has been drawn out to strike all things we consider holy," he said.

He said the planned move will not only harm Islamic world, hinting that it will have far-reaching consequences.

Bahçeli called on Muslim states to protest the move.

The U.S. President Donald Trump is expected to formally recognize Jerusalem as Israel's capital on Wednesday and begin preparations to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the contested city.

The decision would place the U.S. at odds with the rest of the world -- excluding Israel -- reverse decades of American policy, and block any effort to resume the long-stalled peace talks between Israel and Palestine, according to most analysts.

Jerusalem remains at the core of the perennial Israel-Palestine conflict, as Palestinians want Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of a future state.